What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MA
Is this a growing trend? By that I mean corporate lawyers(Fox in this case)are just swinging madly in the dark not worried about any sort of consequence?
The other day a Fox attorney sent me a rather nasty letter claiming I was in violation of trademark infringement of one of their shows. She accused me of selling a "knockoff" or unlicensed product. I immediately questioned the manufacturer and he told me his product was fully licensed like I thought. I called her up and she acted like it was nothing. She said she was human. I think she was a robot and a quick search of her name revealed she is notorious for sending these letters out.
One law firm said something trademark infringement cases only result in 51% victory. Remind me not to make them secretary of war when I'm elected president ;-).
I was selling a fully licensed product but was ordered by her to destroy all the merchandise and cease and desist. Totally a form letter. She also contacted me via an email address that's not published on my website. I thought that was strange for a start. Since I had the items on Ebay I was naturally worried VERO would attack me who is also notorious for shutting down accounts by simply complying with the intellectual property right's wishes. I understand how that works but if they're going around making false claims that's not only unfair but it can hurt one's business and market position. I personally think VERO is a joke as I've had to deal with them before and while they'll bend over backwards for corporations they make small companies play a game of oubliette hopscotch. Really it was overly complicated and didn't work(process).
The funny thing is she only targeted one product when I was selling several Fox products. Oh the other thing she claimed is I didn't label it a Fox licensed product so she didn't know. I kind of think the IP attorney for Fox should know which products they licensed because I was using the manufacturer's stock photos which they would have used to obtain the license in the 1st place. I never post the license holder's name and never see anyone else. I often times say something like officially licensed or something just to distinguish between the knockoff market. Also it's pretty obvious as the knockoffs generally are photographed poorly. I find that to be universally the case for this sort of product. They're shy about showing too much detail I think. It's not terribly hard to create a white infinity background. Still ***** she only cited one instance. My initial reaction(in my mind)was suspicion. I wondered if it was a stunt to cull the marketplace. I trust em as far as I can throw em. I'm also well aware of the early bird gets the worm and I was that bird. That can upset some people. Why someone such as a competitor could have contacted Fox and reported me. Might sound paranoid but all is fair in love, war and business. You'd be surprised at the stunts that are pulled.
The stunt she pulled can be quite destructive as I mentioned. Should the California bar know about this? Is that the proper place to contact? Really had she really been on a witch hunt I wouldn't have an Ebay store right now. She only cited my website. A big company like Fox would already have active agreements with Ebay and the action would have been swift. Why it still could come if she's that cavalier. I tried to pre-empt the attack by contacting VERO and they said Fox is part of their program but they would have to prove to them they owned the trademark. I was like duhhhhhh, like that would be hard she's their IP attorney and would just fax the appropriate document. Why I think the documents would already be on file at VERO. I'm not the only one who could be hurt by this and based upon how her name comes up others have been falsely accused. So CA bar?
Is this a growing trend? By that I mean corporate lawyers(Fox in this case)are just swinging madly in the dark not worried about any sort of consequence?
The other day a Fox attorney sent me a rather nasty letter claiming I was in violation of trademark infringement of one of their shows. She accused me of selling a "knockoff" or unlicensed product. I immediately questioned the manufacturer and he told me his product was fully licensed like I thought. I called her up and she acted like it was nothing. She said she was human. I think she was a robot and a quick search of her name revealed she is notorious for sending these letters out.
One law firm said something trademark infringement cases only result in 51% victory. Remind me not to make them secretary of war when I'm elected president ;-).
I was selling a fully licensed product but was ordered by her to destroy all the merchandise and cease and desist. Totally a form letter. She also contacted me via an email address that's not published on my website. I thought that was strange for a start. Since I had the items on Ebay I was naturally worried VERO would attack me who is also notorious for shutting down accounts by simply complying with the intellectual property right's wishes. I understand how that works but if they're going around making false claims that's not only unfair but it can hurt one's business and market position. I personally think VERO is a joke as I've had to deal with them before and while they'll bend over backwards for corporations they make small companies play a game of oubliette hopscotch. Really it was overly complicated and didn't work(process).
The funny thing is she only targeted one product when I was selling several Fox products. Oh the other thing she claimed is I didn't label it a Fox licensed product so she didn't know. I kind of think the IP attorney for Fox should know which products they licensed because I was using the manufacturer's stock photos which they would have used to obtain the license in the 1st place. I never post the license holder's name and never see anyone else. I often times say something like officially licensed or something just to distinguish between the knockoff market. Also it's pretty obvious as the knockoffs generally are photographed poorly. I find that to be universally the case for this sort of product. They're shy about showing too much detail I think. It's not terribly hard to create a white infinity background. Still ***** she only cited one instance. My initial reaction(in my mind)was suspicion. I wondered if it was a stunt to cull the marketplace. I trust em as far as I can throw em. I'm also well aware of the early bird gets the worm and I was that bird. That can upset some people. Why someone such as a competitor could have contacted Fox and reported me. Might sound paranoid but all is fair in love, war and business. You'd be surprised at the stunts that are pulled.
The stunt she pulled can be quite destructive as I mentioned. Should the California bar know about this? Is that the proper place to contact? Really had she really been on a witch hunt I wouldn't have an Ebay store right now. She only cited my website. A big company like Fox would already have active agreements with Ebay and the action would have been swift. Why it still could come if she's that cavalier. I tried to pre-empt the attack by contacting VERO and they said Fox is part of their program but they would have to prove to them they owned the trademark. I was like duhhhhhh, like that would be hard she's their IP attorney and would just fax the appropriate document. Why I think the documents would already be on file at VERO. I'm not the only one who could be hurt by this and based upon how her name comes up others have been falsely accused. So CA bar?
