I bought about 50 mophies products from a chinese supplier for a cheap enough price to make a profit on amazon. I later found out these are counterfeit products and i quickly removed the listing on amazon. Johnson and Pham sent me a certify letter saying they had private investigator who bought my items and confirmed they are counterfeits. Now they want me to settle with them by paying at least $20,000, want the name of the supplier, and the accounting information of my sells. What am i suppose to do?
Robert A. StumpfBankruptcy AttorneyStaten Island, NY ·
I would politely decline their offer. If they want money from you, they have to convince a judge of their damages, not merely try to intimidate you with a letter. Speak to a lawyer about your options.
James JuoIntellectual Property Law AttorneyLos Angeles, CA ·
It is not clear whether you learned that the product was counterfeit before or after you were sent the cease-and-desist letter (and you should not disclose anything more on this public website). Either way, you should retain your own attorney to advise you and help negotiate against these heavy-handed tactics. The demand for money and information is typical. While patent and trademark infringement is sometime referred to as strict liability because a lack of intent is not a defense to infringement, a court may consider questions of fairness in determining damages. Again, take a deep breath, and consult with an attorney in private.
When you buy knock-offs for a bargain price from China, this is one of the things that can happen.
Your should obtain your own attorney to negotiate the best settlement you can. I do not believe that a non-attorney can negotiate as good a settlement as an attorney, and cannot prepare or review adequate settlement documents.
You need to take this seriously. I regularly defend these cases for clients in the New York/New Jersey area, and we can probably negotiate a deduction in the settlement amount. The problem you face is this: copyright, trademark and patent infringement are strict liability offenses----it does not matter that you thought the goods were authentic. The law imposes a duty on you as a vendor to assure that the goods are real. If you are wrong, you can be sued for infringement. Note that your potential liability in court if you do nothing about this is substantial---think six figures. Further, if you are sued in California (very likely with Johnson and Pham), you will immediately face a major bill for attorneys fees---as the infringer you are liable for the attorneys fees of the plaintiff.
Bottom line--without meaning to scare you, this is a matter that you must take seriously---and that means you must immediately retain legal counsel (most likely in NY) to defend you. My firm regularly handles these cases and feel free to contact us. You need to be realistic about the costs and likely outcome---this will not go away for a few hundred---or even a few thousand---dollars.
