Trademark eBay re-selling and "trademark infridgement"

[curiositycake]

Jurisdiction

Maryland

Hi all!

So I have resold a few supplements on eBay recently that I got brand new from a company (on Amazon). After a few months I received a letter in the mail of noncompliance from the supplement company, saying "our attourneys advise that the first sale doctrine does not protect you from liability for trademark infringement and is causing confusion for our customers...we demand you cease and desist selling [our products]...and [if you don't] will force us to initiate legal action against you." I think they're just trying to scare me with their legal threats, but either way I'm going to stop selling their products as they are asking (I only had 1 left anyways).

My question is: they asked me to 'email them with my storefront [eBay] name to confirm I have fully complied with the letter.' Should I email them? Or should I just make sure I don't sell any of their products again? I was wondering if I might be admitting fault or something if I email them.

Thank you so much!

 

[zddoodah]

After a few months I received a letter in the mail of noncompliance

Received from whom?

Should I email them?

That's a decision only you can make, and it should not be based on what anonymous strangers on the internet say.

 

[curiositycake]

Received from whom?



That's a decision only you can make, and it should not be based on what anonymous strangers on the internet say.

Oh it was directly from the supplement company.

 

[Zigner]

If you buy or legitimately acquire an item, then you are free to sell it and do what you want with it.

This is not necessarily true. There are instances wherein a seller may be able to restrict what you do with their product after you purchase it.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

This is not necessarily true. There are instances wherein a seller may be able to restrict what you do with their product after you purchase it.

This is an almost year-old thread.

 

[Zigner]

This is an almost year-old thread.

"Sagen" is a new user who posted today on this thread. I missed that it was so old though.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

Strange, there aren't any post # breaks. As there usually are when there is a deleted post.

 

[Zigner]

Strange, there aren't any post # breaks. As there usually are when there is a deleted post.

The thread he started on a similar topic is also gone...that is really strange. I suspect his entire account got deleted or sumtin'

 

[flyingron]

You may wish to read through this: Tabberone's Trademark & Copyright Pages.

This person has been bumping her head against ebay tradmark arguments for a while (with various levels of success).

Understand there are two things:

1. Legitimate trademark law
2. Ebay's VeRO program

THey only have slight overlap.