Received custom Seizure letter and letter from attorney on behalf the brand company

[Batanga188]

Received the notice of seizure from customs 6 months ago (never replay), and now i received a letter from attorney on behalf of the brand company saying that I import **** items (after 6months that happened). Whould should i do?

Im sure the items already got destroyed by customs but what im worried is The letter from Attorney says further action may be taken if no response within 10 days. (They send me cease and desist letter)

And the bad things is my seller re-ship it and the package still inbound into custom its been 3weeks no update. Small Package from china by EMS.

Please i really need your advice guys, Should i do what the attorney letter say? Answer/call them? Or just ignore it? Its not alot of item. Just 20pcs of accessories with brand name on it.
And if i contact them and later they got notice that my package got seized by custom AGAIN. What should i do? (Im not sure yet the second package seized or not m but its been 3weeks)

Please help, any advice much appreciated, I can’t sleep or eat thinking of this, and im pregnant i dont want affect my baby :’(

Im sure there is someone had the same problem with me. Please advise much appreciated.

Note: i tried to replay everyone but it didn’t show up, it says moderator have to check before available in the forum. Im sorry guys its look like i take too long to replay. I dont know why

[MustardLover]

Hello Batanga188! Pleasure to know you and welcome to the forum.

If they really were a few items I don't think they are willing to prosecute any actions, unless they are high value items...
You didn't even received the item: they want you to stop import fugazi goods, the U.S. custom has your supplier in a black list for sure.

You should try and find out what happened to you last package from China, make sure that custom destroyed it so you don't have to worry about it being shipped to you.
This re-shipped package is WHY the company attorney sent you a letter after 6 months, the custom must have reported you to the company seeing that you were still importing the same items.

PLEASE stop import from that particular supplier.

About answering/not-answering the letter I will not express myself because I have not experience of this particular situation.
Wait for an answer from a more seasoned user!

and don't worry too much about this, your health and your child's health is definitely more important!

[dachilla]

First of all stop doing what you are doing, this can make things worse. Don't try to import this again.

A whole lot of members here will suggest you forget about the letter...

In general I think it's a very bad idea to ignore it. Some attorneys offer free initial consultation. I'd go for that. Ignoring the cease and desist will most certainly result in a preliminary injunction and from there on it'll just get more and more expensive. If they sent a prefabricated c&d agreement for you to sign, don't sign it as it is. Have a professional take a look at it and either modify it or set up a new c&d agreement. In my experience that's the easiest and cheapest way to get out of this.

This said, I'm a German lawyer and never worked in the US. However IP laws work pretty much the same in the US and in the EU. Thus my advise to go and see a lawyer instead of letting things rest should apply in general.

What I am not sure about is weather the sole import already constitutes a trademark infringement. This might be an important point and I'd ask a local lawyer about.

EDIT: Welcome to the forums - all the best as you master stealth

[Batanga188]

@MustardLover: thank you so much for your replay, i just want to cry, the reship package still inbount into custom 3weeks no update and I think its got seized by US custom too. And the attorney letter says they send me those letter because they got notice from custom that they seized package 20pcs on nov’17 and they didn’t talk about my re-ship yet.

@dachilla: thank you for your advice, i just dnt know what to do, if I respond the letter and contact them, and In the future they got notice from US custom that they seized my package again then how.. they demanding $1200 in the letter

[GreenBean]

These are my questions;

Did you get an email from the Attorney or a registered cease and desist letter.

[dachilla]

Originally Posted by GreenBean

These are my questions;

Did you get an email from the Attorney or a registered cease and desist letter.

Most of the time they will send both.

I'm thinking however that customs somehow must have informed the trademark owner and this way they probably got OPs physical address and sent a letter.

[Batanga188]

@Greenbean: i got letter by fedex express (I didn’t sign, fedex courier just drop the mail in my mail box) and they didn’t send me an email, they just send me that letter with my wrong spelling first name

[Batanga188]

@Greenbean: i got an attorney letter and he say i have to cease and desist, with replay them or call them. If no response by the date, he say the firm (brand) is ready to lawsuit me. They demanding $1200. What to do?

@Dachilla: yes they did, in the last page of the letter it has copy of seizure letter from custom

[GreenBean]

Originally Posted by dachilla

Most of the time they will send both.

I'm thinking however that customs somehow must have informed the trademark owner and this way they probably got OPs physical address and sent a letter.

not quite understanding. OP said there was a notice of seizure six months ago which was ignored.’

Of course,Customs passed on whatever info they had.

[Batanga188]

@Greenbean: yeah it was 6months ago, The attorney letter (last page) has copy of seizure letter from custom.

[Batanga188]

@Greenbean: i dont have any idea why they send me attorney letter after 6months its happened. Item got seized on Nov2017 and got this letter yesterday April 2018. And about my second shipment no update since 3 weeks so I assumed it got seized too. But the letter doesn’t talk about it yet.

[MustardLover]

Originally Posted by GreenBean

not quite understanding. OP said there was a notice of seizure six months ago which was ignored.’

Of course,Customs passed on whatever info they had.

the six months old seizure was from the customs, notifying that OP's shipment had been destroyed.

then there was a second shipment from China and the customs reported this directly to the company

[GreenBean]

Originally Posted by MustardLover

the six months old seizure was from the customs, notifying that OP's shipment had been destroyed.

then there was a second shipment from China and the customs reported this directly to the company

Sort of. A destroyed shipment also gets follow up action. The 1st poster does not even know yet if her 2nd shipment has been seized.

[rsot]

Welcome to the forums OP - all the best as you master stealth

1. Stop importing branded items

2. Unless letter is registered, it isn't considered delivered per say...

3. You want a ton of advice - then you will need legal advice.

4. Doesn't matter if you're pregnant - that's not an excuse for anything these days, just being real with you.

[Batanga188]

@rsot: thank you for your advice, i knew its my fault after i see DHGte make me want to order. its my first time and i think it just my luck, Or maybe the seller is not that good to declare the package. So everytime enter the US custom they check the inside. First i used DHL and second one i used EMS both seized.
I know legal advice is the best thing to do, but i dont want to tell anyone about this, they will be crazy mad to me :”( im so scared. I just need little advice maybe someone had the same problem with me before, what they do in this case.. if i ignore it, will they sue me just because buy 20pcs? Im not even sell it.

[ebaystealth1974]

So, you can get in trouble for just buying phake sh*t... and not even selling it?

[Batanga188]

@Ebaystealth: yeah i dont know, my first time and last time for me to buy stuff from china, never again!

[rsot]

Originally Posted by Batanga188

@rsot: thank you for your advice, i knew its my fault after i see DHGte make me want to order. its my first time and i think it just my luck, Or maybe the seller is not that good to declare the package. So everytime enter the US custom they check the inside. First i used DHL and second one i used EMS both seized.
I know legal advice is the best thing to do, but i dont want to tell anyone about this, they will be crazy mad to me :”( im so scared. I just need little advice maybe someone had the same problem with me before, what they do in this case.. if i ignore it, will they sue me just because buy 20pcs? Im not even sell it.

Both times to the same address shipped?

[Batanga188]

@rsot: yes both to the same address but different last name, I didn’t know if custom will seized small package thats why i used same address

[Yasav]

Unless a VERY LARGE amount of goods is involved, customs will just send you a letter, which if ignored, would lead to the eventual destruction of the items after 30days or so.

Customs usually notify the brand owner of the attempted import when a seizure happens - that's a standard practice. Afterwards, some brands may also send you a letter about this. In 99% of the time, they just want you to stop doing whatever you were doing.

Now, I'm NOT a lawyer by any means. But having dealt with something similar, I'd suggest 3 things: IGNORE. IGNORE.IGNORE.

End of story.

[dachilla]

Originally Posted by Batanga188

im so scared. I just need little advice maybe someone had the same problem with me before, what they do in this case.. if i ignore it, will they sue me just because buy 20pcs? Im not even sell it.

If you seek legal advise all you are doing is tell your story to a lawyer. No need to be scared about that. As I stated earlier initial consultation often is free.

If you want to know about the consequences it may have if you ignore the letter, I recommend you read it again, because I am pretty sure that they informed you about the consequences.

I haven't heard of a legal obligation for the IP owner to send a c&d letter before they sue you. Technically they could sue right away. Thus it was just a nice move of them to warn you and keep the costs for both sides low. And thus it is not important weather the letter can be considered delivered or not.

[GreenBean]

Originally Posted by ebaystealth1974

So, you can get in trouble for just buying phake sh*t... and not even selling it?

Uh huh.

If US customs seize an inbound shipment, dem da rules.


As I have said before, the onus is on the buyer trying to bring the items into the USA that they have the right of selling onwards where commerce is their aim.