Forum

I know an aquintance that was threatened by a big name designer (LV) with a lawsuit and jail time. She was definitely contacted by lawyers representing this designer and I know she ended up having to pay a fine of $12,000 for selling counterfeit bags. She was warned numerous times to stop selling on Ebay and having personal purse parties. In my opinion, she did no steps to change or hide what she was doing, so she ended up paying the price. Also, she was told if she was caught again they would turn her in and criminally pursue her for tax evation and fraud. I just think the risk is not worth it.

avoid! I repeat avoid! A friend of mine got sued by software company! Totally not worth it!

dang...what were you selling?

hehe i feel lucky I don't think trademark is enforced in my country because There are bootleg bags and ⊗⊗⊗⊗ cloths sold in mainstream shops near me =)
not that i am selling this sort of thing :lol:

Trademarks exists to distinguish brands and prevent customer confusion, but it's use today for completely fraudulent practices. I also sometimes see people with websites that have been around a long time and have gotten popular and I warn them that they should trademark it as someone could trademark it instead to reverse-hijack their domain. There was even a case in Britain where a guy kept tradmarking names of local businesses that didn't have trademarks and then he ransomed the naming rights to them.

"didn't have trademarks and then he ransomed the naming rights to them"
is that legal?

I received a ceast & desist letter demanding XXX amount within 10 days or legal action will be taken. The thing is that this letter came by EMAIL, a pdf file, scanned from the original. Looks legit enough, but sending such a letter by email, has anyone else gotten a letter by email?

I looked up their law firm and they are legit and it looks like they do a lot of work for other VeRo companies.

thanks~

Usually scam letters, I wouldn't worry about those. No legal entity will contact you by email first...

yes, one UK forumer was sued, indirectly through ebay, sold some copies on there, the VERO owner then sent undercover agents to a sale he did at his house of these items.

Bottoms line, unless you are caught in the act, very hard to prove with just ebay sales,

.pdf file is not a legal serving. It is a bully tactic designed to scare you.:ranger:

For all you know, I might have ⊗⊗⊗⊗d up a letterhead from a legit law office and spoofed you myself. Just in case that's true, you should pay the bribe money. Contact me via PM for a more current address where to send ca$h or a blank mony order.

On the other hand, you could simply delete the attachment.

Hint: analyze the email header, trace back to see where and who it's really from.

I received one in the mail first and followed up with an email.

Many people don't realize that you can sue a company for filing a fraudulent vero takedown. Take a look at Bogus Takedowns - Fight an eBay Vero Suspension

smells like a 100% SCAM! sleep well at night....

you would think but some basic google research shows what seems to be a real law firm and also past copyright law suits. is there a way to find out if they are a real law firm?

for the other items i had vero cancel the email from ebay states that they recommend contacting the rights owner, does this help in not getting a "letter"?

Any email contact you should really take with a grain of salt. Obviously stop selling that particular item on the account. But if theyre asking for any money, ignore it. If they were even close to serious they would mail it certified.

The vero takedown+cease and desist email is pretty much like a warning to stop selling that item on that account. Or even on that account in general. If you keep selling, youre asking for trouble.

Vero takedown, 7 days later, email cease and desist letter from Law firm, looked pretty official, demanding ALOT (over $50K) of money within 10 days , account was in real info, only selling for about 6 mos. on that account that particular brand, sold no where near the amount demanding. Came as .pdf with text saying US Mail to follow. Wanted supplier list, sign something saying wouldn't sell brand anymore, and a detailed list of who bought, how many sold, and rest of remaining inventory and money. Said anything less was not sufficient. Bull crap or not? I have never had or seen this for this brand before, listed as one of the vero brands that was not as aggressive (safer) to sell. Have had good input from several members via PM on the board, have not responded, and communicated at all and don't plan to to email have not received letter as of today 4 days later. Is that the majority of opinions on the board.
thanks!

Note to add: email attachment on 10/21 as of today no US Mail or Fed Ex received, from others I have heard of the same company supposed law firms sending several of these emails on the same day. Any Input?

Empty scare tactics. Want you to give in easy and pay them a couple bucks. Definitely not official service of process, so not legally actionable, at least not yet. Possibly even an elaborate scam. Somebody pretending to be something scary, hoping an easy mark will pay them for nothing.

Do not reply to it or them, unless and until you get certified registered US Mail or a process server comes to see you in person.

lyda,
incorrect.....a big fortune 50 company did send out a letter via email to me with a cease and desist demand, i called them and sure enough, it really was them that sent the email to me.