Lengthy the province of street corner peddlers and automobile trunk salesmen, counterfeit goods are now offered just about everywhere. Even large time retailers identified for the excellent of their solutions have been caught accidentially promoting counterfeit products. To compound this issue, the high-quality of fake merchandise has been having improved, and they have grow to be much simpler to get. Worse however, several of the largest suppliers claim to be authorized wholesalers. This has led to numerous fake items becoming sold on Amazon.com, eBay, and other Online marketplaces – and typically the sellers have no thought that the products that they are promoting are fakes. Worse yet, the producers of counterfeit goods generally reside in “Justice Free of charge” countries, exactly where it would be prohibitively costly, and perhaps impossible for brand name makers to sue them.
Even so, brand name corporations have began to fight back really hard. Many have retained law firms to target counterfeited goods in any way they can – for example, the California firm Johnson & Pham has been retained by numerous brands to shut down counterfeit sellers. They have targeted on the net sellers that reside in, and are amenable to service of process, in the United States. Numerous of these online sellers are ordinary people today hunting to make a few extra dollars. And none of them are ready for expensive lawsuits demanding tens of thousands of dollars in compensation, and potentially requiring tens of thousands of added dollars to hire counsel.
Brand name makers will typically pursue on the web sellers for a single of the following causes of action:
A. Trademark Infringement: Section 32(l) of the Lanham Act especially prohibits the unauthorized use, sale, supplying for sale, distribution, or advertising of counterfeit goods. Most state trademark statutes have analogous sections. Trafficking in counterfeit goods is often described as “trademark infringement in the initial degree.”
B. Unfair Competitors: Even if a mark is not registered, an action for unfair competition can be brought to prevent customer confusion. If the mark is not registered, this could be the most viable result in of action.
C. Trademark Dilution: As counterfeiters ordinarily only go soon after renowned marks, most counterfeit circumstances will allege trademark dilution as properly.
D. Copyright Infringement: In several instances, the counterfeiter will duplicate the Brand’s logo, packaging styles, instruction manuals, etc. Numerous of these are registered copyrights.
Normally, the law firm retained by the brand contacts counterfeit sellers just before initiating a lawsuit. If you should obtain such a letter, you require to act rapidly to defend oneself. Beneath is an action plan that I advise to clientele.
Action Strategy
1. Do not Ignore the Letter. These situations will not go away if you ignore them. As an alternative, the extremely aggressive firms that brands hire to pursue counterfeiters will file a complaint and raise their demand. And, if you continue to ignore the challenge, the brand will obtain a default judgment against you – likely for numerous times the damage you would have suffered otherwise.
two. Do not Contact the Law Firm. If you contact the brand manufactuer’s law firm you are going to speak with an seasoned attorney who is going to do almost everything that s/he can to represent her customers. This includes finding admissions from you, which are extremely likely to take place. For instance, the attorney may well ask you “Exactly where did you get the counterfeit goods from?” Answering such buy best quality counterfeit euros online is arguably an admission that you trafficked in counterfeit goods.
3. Get the Details. The most significant fact for you to figure out is whether or not the brand holder will be capable to paint you as a willful infringer. In certain, if the brand name manufacturer can convince a jury that you knew you have been trafficking in counterfeit goods, damages can be significantly higher. In particular, if you are an innocent infringer, the damages that a brand name manufacturer can recover are really limited and might be zero. On the other hand, if the brand name manufacturer can show that you knowingly trafficked in counterfeit goods, your earnings, the brands actual damages, treble damages, counterfeit statutory damages, and attorneys charges. In distinct, exactly where actual know-how of counterfeiting is shown, damage awards can quickly exceed a million dollars ($1,000,000).
four. Hire an Lawyer. Offered the big quantity of these situations that are now being pursued by brand name makers, quite a few attorneys now provide cost-effective special applications to assistance men and women and compact corporations resolve these suits. When you hire such an attorney, retain in thoughts that you want an experienced IP lawyer that can actually litigate a case if need to have be – neglect about hiring an lawyer that helped with your will or even 1 that may possibly have handled the divorce of someone you know. Ask the attorney how significantly knowledge s/he has dealing with counterfeit situations, and if the lawyer has actually litigated trademark problems. And, of course, ask the lawyer how a lot the action is likely to price if the case is resolved with no litigation, and how a great deal it is probably to price if the case wants to be litigated.
5. Have your Attorney Seek a Demand. After you know what the brand name manufacturer desires, you and your lawyer can decide the greatest method to take with your case. In certain, if the demand is low adequate, consider paying it or having your attorney negotiate further. If the demand is pretty higher, and you are innocent infringer, litigation might be required to decrease the brand name manufacturer’s demand. If you are not an innocent infringer, litigating a case like this can have disastrous consequences. In unique, the harm award against you can be staggering (and is probably not dischargeable in bankruptcy), and there is a real possibility of criminal enforcement.
If you have received a letter accusing you of trafficking in counterfeit goods, you are undoubtedly under a lot of strain. I hope that the above action plan helps you approach your decision as to how to resolve such a case very carefully and calmly.
