Cease and desist letter from adidas America, Inc.

Hey, I got the same email. I will ignore it. Since they did nothing just send out another email instead of taking any legal action, I will just do nothing.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Forgot to login -

I just received an email back after 8 days:

As you are aware this firm is counsel to the adidas Group (“adidas”).

We are in receipt of your response dated June 2, 2008. Please be advised that your eBay auction was terminated because adidas experts successfully identified the item in question as counterfeit based on the photographs and description you provided.

Under the Lanham (Trademark) Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1117 et seq., not just the sale, but the offer for sale of merchandise bearing counterfeit trademarks regardless of completion of transaction and/or authenticity disclaimers is illegal and attaches liability not only for recovery of profits, but also for treble damages or statutory damages. Even without a showing of willfulness, statutory damages can be awarded up to $100,000 per mark (and the watch in question contained multiple trademarks). In addition, this listing violated the eBay User Agreement, which further prohibits the sale of counterfeit merchandise and mandates that all sellers must guarantee the authenticity of all items offered for sale through eBay.com.

To resolve this matter without the need for further legal action you must remit a check $450 to adidas International, Inc., and send the counterfeit merchandise in your possession along with restitution and information regarding the source of the merchandise to:
Gibney, Anthony & Flaherty, LLP
665 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10022
Attn: John Macaluso, Esq.

Please be advised that our client’s demands are non-negotiable.

You are hereby on notice of our client’s protest in this matter as federal law prohibits you from offering counterfeit merchandise for sale. adidas reserves the right to use all and appropriate legal action in order to enforce the protection of their Trademarks.

We await a response from you or your counsel.


Don't know what to do.

Hey all...

the same thing happened to me and I think I'm going to ignore it. I'm from another country and got 2 letters exactly the same as you have. I think I'll choose to ignore this too since...

1. how can they prove that they're fake?
2. I bought them knowing they were actually originals.
3. there are other fake jerseys out there, what makes them any better?
4. Don't they have bigger fish to fry?

They send those things out like they're candy.

Anyone heard anything lately from these guys?

same thing happened to me.. anyone have any updates?

im in the same boat as all of you.. no reply to this thread since july 8th..


any body have any updates

[modee]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

It seems it is very popular problem among ebay newbies. I got the same letter demanding $450, surrender all my possesion, and agree to not sell any more. Anybody got any update on this case? I did some research on the internet on found this forum talking about ebay suspension: eBay Suspension & Paypal Forums - Powered by vBulletin. There are some interesting discussion about the cease and desist letter.
Check these two links about the discussion.

The links were merged into this one:
Trademark Infringement / VERO Issues - Cease & Desist letters Definitive VERO thread. - eBay Suspension & Paypal Limited Forums

I got this crap too. I bought a celtics jersey on ebay and it was to small so I posted it back on ebay with one little picture. THis jersey had the adidas, nba store, and american express tags on it. THey had me mail it to them after 2 weeks I called them and asked them for it back, they told me it was fake and they were going to keep it and destroy it. I'm not sending them anything else! They can take me to court over a 60$ jersey!

Originally Posted by 02mitsu

I was recently selling NFL jerseys from an over seas supplier on Ebay. I was not aware that they were fake or counterfeit. But I now know that they are because I recieved a cease and desist letter from attornys representing adidas America, Inc. Not only do they want me to stop selling the jerseys (which I don't know how they can tell if they are fake or not), the want me to send them a decent amount of money, all jerseys in my possesion, a list of suppliers, and how much I profitted from the nine (yea only nine) that I sold.

My question is, can they do this? This is the first time adidas or anyone representing them has contacted me. I understand them wanting me to stop, no problem, but having to send them money, merchandise, names of suppliers, how much I made -- are they allowed to do that, even when they have never contacted me before? The letter also says that failure to do so by April 2, 2008 may result in legal action. I just recieved the letter today, that gives me three business days to comply.

I don't know what to do. I'm afraid if I don't comply, I will be sued. If I do, I'm afraid I may get sued anyway because doing so would be admitting guilt. Are they just trying to scare me, or do I really have something to worry about. Why don't they go after the hundreds of suppliers on the internet, (google it, you'd be amazed), why target a guy on Ebay who sold nine jerseys.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Ditto to all of the above...I received the same letter after listing ONE jersey...it never sold as it was removed by Ebay after one day. I honestly believe this is authentic but the Adidas spies think otherwise. I only had three days to comply. Interesting how the attorney letters do not display a case number and just arrived via regular mail....how do they prove that it was received? Funny that they don't send them registered/certified.

Ditto to all of the above...I received the same letter after listing ONE jersey...it never sold as it was removed by Ebay after one day. I honestly believe this is authentic but the Adidas spies think otherwise. I only had three days to comply. Interesting how the attorney letters do not display a case number and just arrived via regular mail....how do they prove that it was received? Funny that they don't send them registered/certified.