Discussion:
What is the name of your state? New Jersey
I am a sixteen-year old who sold about 100 Lacoste polo shirts that were said to be authentic. I sold these shirts on eBay. I received a letter from the Law firm of Lacoste saying that they bought one of the shirts and determined it to be fake. They want me to pay damages and attorney's fees. What I am wondering is if I should just stop selling the shirts (which I have already done) and ignore them. The volume of shirts sold is so small, that I would not think they would waste the time and money to sue me, and send a lawyer down to my location. I do not know if this is a valid thought, because I know very little about law. I would really appreciate some help with this matter. If you have some insight as to how to handle this, I would be very greatful.
Answer:
What I am wondering is if I should just stop selling the shirts Yes.
and ignore them. No.
The volume of shirts sold is so small, that I would not think they would waste the time and money to sue me, and send a lawyer down to my location. That is certainly NOT a safe assumption.
If you ignore them, you are going to get sued almost certainly -- they have attorneys on retainer to handle these types of issues already, it's not like they have to go out and hire someone to sue you. Also, they are almost required to sue you -- the way trademark law works, they have to enforce their mark or they could end up losing their mark.
You should really consider their settlement offer. If you end up in court, it will almost certainly end up costing you far more, because you'll need to hire your own attorney to defend you, and you'll have to pay for your attorney out of your own pocket. If you simply ignore them, sure, maybe they won'ty sue -- but if they do, you can bet that the original settlement offer will be off of the table, and the price to settle will have gone up dramatically. It's up to you if you want to take that risk.
This isn't your dad, is it?: