Discussion:
What is the name of your state?
Texas
My son purchased "authentic" Lacoste shirts on the internet to resell on ebay. Because of some VERO program ebay suspended his account and the Lacoste lawyers are demanding he 1) send them his remaining shirt, 2) send them the procedes of all the shirts sold, and 3) pay them $1000 as part of their cost to handle this matter. He has already lost lots of money as he has still has lots of shirts. How does he get out of this mess? Would they really sue him? He is 15 years old.
Answer:
My son purchased "authentic" Lacoste shirts on the internet to resell on ebay. I guess since you used the quotes around the word authentic that the authenticity of the shirts is in question...
He has already lost lots of money as he has still has lots of shirts. How does he get out of this mess? He can either pay up and do what the Lacoste lawyers asked him to do, or he can hire his own lawyer at fight it out. Unless the shirts are authentic, however, he would likely be fighting a losing battle. The trademark holder, Lacoste, not only has the right to enforce their trademarks, they have the obligation to do so if they want to retain their mark.
If the shirts are indeed pirated, and they were sold to him as authentic, he can try and recover his costs by suing ther person who sold him the shirts in the first place. But, unfortunately in this case, Lacoste has every right to stop your son from selling the fake shirts, and to recover their legal costs in enforcing their mark.
Would they really sue him? Hard to say -- but they could if they wanted to, and if they did, then you would have to hire a lawyer to defend him -- and, like I noted above, unless the shirts are authentic, he doesn't really have a leg to stand on. Further, the measure of damages isn't the profits, if any, that your son gained -- rather, its profits Lacoste lost as a result of your son's activities, which could be significant, and in some cases, damage awards can be multiplied and attorney's fees added on if they can prove that what your son did was "willful." Whether they can prove that or not is a question for the courts, but it would certainly be a bad way to start out life as an adult with a large judgment hanging over you...
He is 15 years old. That;s pretty much irrelevant, although his youthfulness may make it more difficult to prove willfulness. Even though he may not have anything now, if they get a judgment now, that will follow him until he either pays it off or until he declares bankruptcy, neither of which would be particularly enticing to a young person starting his career or working on a degree.
Take the settlement offer down to a local attorney, who can review the offer and all of the relevant facts, and advise you accordingly. He is almost certainly better off taking his lumps now and moving on.