Buy and Resell-Women's Underwear

Hi, I recently trademarked my company name and now I'm getting ready to purchase my product: women's underwear. The plan is to buy underwear at a local store and resell it at a boutique. Is this legal? I know ideally you would buy direct from a manufacturer, however, cost prohibits that at this time because most manufacturers' minimum is in the thousands (plus I've also had the toughest times finding manufacturers-local especially-online.)

Can I buy underwear and resell them? Moreover, would I be able to replace the tag with my own? Or just sell tagless?

Thanks

I am not an attorney, i'm just wearing my common sense hat (although the law does not always follow common sense), but i would imagine the design etc could be copyrighted and that trying to pass it off as a different brand would be a copyright infringement.

Again, i am no attorney, but tought i would throw my 2 cents out there to see if i am right

The answer to your question falls along the lines of the first sale doctrine. If you resold their product at a cheap price, that's fine. But if you put your label on it, you may have issues. I'll begin to lead you in the right direction:

The first-sale doctrine is a limitation on copyright that was recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1908 and subsequently codified in the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 109. The doctrine allows the purchaser to transfer (i.e., sell or give away) a particular lawfully made copy of the copyrighted work without permission once it has been obtained. That means that copyright holder's rights to control the change of ownership of a particular copy end once that copy is sold, as long as no additional copies are made. This doctrine is also referred to as the "first sale rule" or "exhaustion rule".

reselling & repackaging a product for different use

I am intent on creating a product that is available, but in the wrong form.
I am interested in obtaining the product & repackaging it, so it may be applied differently for an entirely unintended use by the manufacturer.
Should I approach the manufacturer about repackaging their product?
Is there any legal way to slightly alter the product (this may have to be done in order to change the application process anyway), and then resell it under a new product name?

sirtophamhat said:

I am intent on creating a product that is available, but in the wrong form.
I am interested in obtaining the product & repackaging it, so it may be applied differently for an entirely unintended use by the manufacturer.
Should I approach the manufacturer about repackaging their product?
Is there any legal way to slightly alter the product (this may have to be done in order to change the application process anyway), and then resell it under a new product name?

Click to expand...

It's obviously easier to work everything out with the manufacturer and it may or may not be necessary. It's difficult to answer the question without knowing all of the details. I'm wondering about potential trademark or patent related issues and think you really do need a legal consultation for this before you head into the endeavor and go head to head.