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Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Hi, i just received a law sue mail today. It says demand for jury trial, and the violation is Trademark Infringement. Can they process this law sue with the following info they got? This account is using my brother's real name my friend's phone number and my EIN ID and a stealth address. Thanks!

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Yes, they can! Who was it from?

Unfortunately you can easily be tracked down by either your brother's personal info, or your EIN application.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

A good example of why not to use friends and family information of any kind. :brick:

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Or sell phake stuff from an EIN account...

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Holly Fukballs, this was a disaster waiting to happen....At this point you should get off this forum and start calling Intellectual Property Lawyers for a consultation....Be ready to drop a ton of money. I wonder how long it will take your brother to talk to you again, considering you just screwed him.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

oh no, it's from a well-known vehicle company

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Seriously though, you need a lawyer ASAP.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Count/erfiet cars? Or parts? Or manufacturing your own stuff with their logo?

What did you do?

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Vehicle Parts

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

yea..search for one now :/

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Wow. I didn't even know there was such a market until just now.

Sorry to hear about your situation butterbear. Good luck.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

How the **** is selling used parts a trademark violation? There has to be more to this. I been selling used parts on ebay for years

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Where did he/she say ANYTHING about used parts?

You don't get sued for selling used genuine parts. You get sued for selling new phake parts.

Look it up. It's a $12 billion market.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

You're saying selling phake car parts is a 12 billion dollar business?

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

A couple years ago there was a large crackdown on ebay by Automakers on the car parts I believe, will have to find the article.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

It's actually huge, I know a few people who deal in that business (outside of Ebay) and let's just say they are filthy rich.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

From:
https://blogs.thomsonreuters.com/ans...ming-business/

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Frist lot of info is more than enough to litigate.

IMPORTANT question: who signed for receipt of the letter?

=}

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

It's business address, the person i know signed it.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

I'm not trying to be a smartass, but why oh why would you use personal details of people so close to home if you were selling in a risky area? I'm not for one second judging your trade ethics- I myself sell in some murky waters but if you're going stealth why would you use family members details when with hardly any additional work you could muddy the trail?

As suggested in this thread, get legal advice. I've been informed of the intention by a company to be sued but the monetary value linked to the case was small enough, relatively speaking (£250,000GBP loss revenue to THEM, NOT my sales) for me to simply agree to cease immediately, and confirm in writing. They did try to shake me down for money, but I stood firm saying I was unwilling to agree a financial settlement and they accepted based on the aforementioned conditions. I did state that I was unable to afford a settlement, I took a risk here and they didn't press to review my finances.

If you're talking on a large scale, or if you dealing with a firm who simply want to prove a point. This may or may not happen. The key thing to do here which i cannot stress enough is to establish what they're looking to do... are they truly looking to bring criminal charges, or are they looking to settle the issue outside of court; whether that meaning you just agree cease, or whether it's a financial settlement on top, too.

Unless we're talking millions, it's likely they simply want to ensure you cease. But don't be surprised if they propose a financial settlement on top. Be prepared to negotiate, as they will be.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Certified Letter from a lawyer or a Judgement?

Post up your letter but block out your brothers personal details and of course consult with a legal adviser.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

well good lord.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Your brother can perhaps feign ignorance since anyone can use his name in theory, but yeah, check with a lawyer asap

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

The OP only used his brothers NAME.
The address he used is stealth..
Phone number is a friends.

So depending on how common his name is.. i would say his brother will be fine.

As for the info attached tot he EIN number... not so fine.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Butter bear, did the pull your info from your account details? Was it one of those eBay member requesting information or did your letter come mysteriously in the mail?

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Thank you for your reply.

First of all, Well my brother's name is pretty common, and that was a business address, he doesn't live there and have no info attached to that address. where to obtain an EIN if i don't use my personal info?
Second, I started selling these parts just about 1 and half months, i think the total sales is less than 10k and the feedback is about 150. I have no clue why they picked me, since there were many other sellers with huge number of sales.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

I have dropped off the mail to my friend's boss he is a lawyer, i might get it back in two days and i will post it here.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Thanks for the reply, yea i dropped off the mail at my friend's lawyer, he will take a look at it tomorrow.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

If i used my own EIN, my brother will be fine and i'm not right? because i don't want him get in trouble.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Good luck keep us updated. Hope everything works out for you. In the future, keep personal info, especially friends/family, away from merch like this.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Thanks, i will keep this post update, so everyone could be aware in the future.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Hi, they have my EIN business name, the certified mail was mailed to my return address.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Can I point put that NONE of you are attornies at law in the USA.

Your replies are only misguided info and may harm the OP.

:peace:

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Naturally I'm from the UK and this is a US issue, but for those numbers i'd be amazed if they took you all the way. Whilst I appreciate it's worrying; in my experience for numbers like these the vast majority of companies would only be looking to ensure you cease trading, providing you make an admission to them accepting you were responsible for wrongdoing. This will essentially give them a slam dunk prosecution if in future you were stupid enough to break the agreement and start selling again.

Naturally your lawyer friend will know much more than myself but things could certainly have been a lot worse. Worst case scenario I see happening here is they force you to cease and request all proceeds made to date- at which point, providing this is indeed prior to any court hearing, you will be able to negotiate. A slightly lesser deal for them will still leave them better off than if they were to pursue you through the courts considering legal fees (for all they know they could do this, win the hearing and be awarded proceeds+court costs and you could be unable to pay - they are unlikely to do this unless you flat out refuse to cooperate).

Definitely report back once you've spoken with the lawyer. The sooner you establish whether they are open to negotiate, the sooner you'll sleep easier at night. And remember, if they are willing, this is very much a two sided negotiation at this stage... just don't push your luck.

Good luck.

P.S Ref EIN Q, fair point. Being from the UK we don't have that hurdle.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

The OP NEEDS AN ATTORNEY! There are no two ways about it. They have an EIN, they have your brother's information etc. Your brother will probably be all right, because it will come out at the trial that he was not the one selling anything. If I were your brother I would file an affidavit stating that i had no knowledge of it and I had absolutely nothing to do with it.

You will have to stand up and take responsibility here. My guess is that they are NOT going to go away. And I wouldn't count on a sympathetic judge or jury, because they are going bring up that this is a SAFETY ISSUE and that you were potentially putting lives at risk if the items are car parts and not radio knobs (do they still have those???).

But it is VERY IMPORTANT to speak to an attorney immediately. Nobody on the forum, myself included, is qualified to dispense legal advice. There are no lawyers here. And you need legal advice from an attorney who specializes in intellectual property and trademark law.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

The other part of this is the damage done to the relationship between you and your brother. Like it or not, he is going to be involved in this one way or another. If he knew about it and told you to go for it, then he made his own bed and all that. But if not, I cannot imagine he is going to be too happy about all of this.

This is a perfect example of why you should never use your friends or relatives as a part of your business plan. Especially if your business model is selling anything illegal.

For a couple thousand in profits, you may have seriously damaged your relationship with your brother and maybe even your parents. It just isn't worth it. Believe me, as you get older, your family and your TRUE friends become more important. These are the people who will help you through the tough times and we do not live in a warm fuzzy world where everyone is nice and everything is fair and everything runs smoothly. We live in a world where it is not enough for ME to win, YOU have to lose and lose badly. People will screw you over just because they can! Not everybody, of course, but there are enough of these people out there to make your life miserable.

I am saying this not to kick the OP when he is down, but to warn anyone else thinking of using their friends and relative for their eBay sales to think again.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Ford led the last smackdown in this industry years ago. I'm sure they're still fishing for guppies.

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Was the parts for customizing a car or like knockoff airbags I mean could safety be a issue ?

Re: Received a Law sue certified mail today
 

Assuming it was a Certified Letter you got. Anytime you get a certified letter its bad news. If they are sending you this and demanding a trial it means that someone at the law firm or the trademark owner purchased one of the products from you. I would advise getting a lawyer. To be honest you are lucky this is a civil case if it comes to it and you didn't have Homeland Security raid you place.