DSF

I had a similar situation to John a few years ago when I was involved with some classic car clubs. We had sold lots of videos of the old Rootes Group promotional films but, never sold them on DVD as it was something I was planning on doing. To our horror we found someone selling one of the films on DVD complete with our copyright notice on the sleeve.

We contacted Ebay straight away to have it removed which they did. No sooner had it been removed he was selling them again on Ebay within a week. This went on for a few times until I managed to find out who the buyer was. We sent him a letter telling him to stop selling the DVD's or else we would take matters further. He came back at me & threatened me with a counter claim for £150,000 which worried the hell out of me. I was told not to worry as we had Peugeot who now owned all the rights to the Rootes Group to support us in times such as these. I passed everything over to the lawyers for Peugeot in France & they then contacted the seller. They told him in no uncertain terms that they would take him to court but it would be in France & not the UK. They also told him that his counter claim to me would look very small compared to what they would be seeking from him.

The seller soon vanished & nobody has seen or heard from him again. We were lucky in having such a big company to back us up but, I do have some idea of how John felt at the time it happend to him.

What was his £150,000 counter-claim? Damages to his business due to a VeRO strike??

Peugeot seeking massive damages that would put his figure to shame....the financial penalties do seem limitless; interesting to know how they arrive at a figure.

I would love to know how much that Dr Who mug infringement cost that lady, she might have been on this forum?

It was for all the stock he had & all the money he had laid out he said & the damage it would do to his business & reputation. The reputation was the best bit because we found out he had built a replicar of a very famous & rare works Sunbeam Tiger rally car. The original car was badly damaged in an accident & he manged to get his hands on the log book for that car. He then registered the car in his name & put the registration on the replicar car & then tried to sell it as the original works rally car. Luckily someone from the club spotted it & put a stop to the sale. He was then deemed to be persona non grata to quote Peugeot & a few others. The lawyers at Peugeot also found out that he had also been in trouble with the police dealing in drugs & a few other naughty things. In fact the list kept getting longer as the weeks went past & he really didn't have any choice but to disappear very quickly. He did have a reputation but, not the kind any of us would want.

can we see what designs are being ripped off please?

chongsta;23218 wrote:can we see what designs are being ripped off please?

No sorry, I'm not going to say anything which identifies a potential legal case.

I've drafted cease and desist letters claiming copyright infringement and invoiced the sellers for amounts under £5000. The amount of units they were selling times my profit lost. It's actually gone up to three sellers now.

I was about to update this to three counterfeiters, but now it is has risen to four thieving scumbags.

GoonerGary;23293 wrote:No sorry, I'm not going to say anything which identifies a potential legal case.

I've drafted cease and desist letters claiming copyright infringement and invoiced the sellers for amounts under £5000. The amount of units they were selling times my profit lost. It's actually gone up to three sellers now.

Have you had any response?

Infringer 1 Removal of two items claiming ignorance and coincidence.
Infringer 2. Removal of items no official response.
Infringer 3. Denies everything, solicitor responds claiming that I've got no case. Solicitor receives four page letter detailing a long catalogue of his client's trademark and copyright theft backed up by statements from the respective trademark owners. Infringer 3 believes that she can lift images off the internet for profit.
Infringer 4. Will get letter soon.