@vip-marketplace wrote:
So this is the second message I get from this person.
Both time I called eBay anchor store support and was told to ignore it.
Hi, I may be able to help you and I'm sorry I didn't see your post earlier. I'm an eBay seller, but I worked for a number of years as a professional paralegal and document drafter for several large corporate-commercial law firms in Vancouver, BC. I can tell you with certainty that this message is not legitimate. For your sake, and for the sake of others who may be targeted with this sort of bullying, here is why:
1) I've reviewed the text you posted and marked specifically the portions that are absolutely markers of a false or fraudulent "legal" letter. Not much left, is there! Really, I laughed out loud at this so-called "notice".
It has come to our attention that you are STILL IN VIOLATION with Federal Trademark and unfair competition laws of Petmate, Chuckit!, JW Pet, FAT CAT, Aspen Pet, Ruffmaxx, Dogzilla, Doskocil, Booda, Precision Pet Products, Jackson Galaxy, Muttnation, WWE, Zoobilee, Wetnoz, CALMZwith its principal place of business in Arlington, Texas. You HAVE IGNORED COMPLIANCE with our trademarks by continuing to sell our products online. You have exceeded your 5 days to remove all of our products sold by you online. Please remove all of our products immediately or we will be forced to pursue all legal remedies available to us under Federal Trademark and unfair competition laws.
2) Aside from specifics about this text (which are too long to post here), there are other telltale mistakes the sender has made:
- A bona fide law firm representing a rights holder would not be contacting you, the seller. They would first complain to the legally responsible party, the platform on which you sell (eBay).
- Such a letter would not be sent by email, even in today's "online" world. Any legitimate legal notice would be sent by mail first, usually by registered mail to prove receipt, in the event that a legal claim might be required to be filed. Even in the U.S., no civil claim can be instituted without first having proof of notice on the recipient (defendant).
- Such a letter would always be signed on behalf of the actual corporate owner of the trade marks, either by an in-house lawyer or corporate law firm, and would specify eBay as the offending party.
- Although the letter might be more or less standard (boilerplate), it would always, ALWAYS be on the formal letterhead of the company or law firm.
- You might receive a copy of that letter by mail, but most likely you'd be contacted by eBay on their receipt of the notice.
- If the rights owner is a VeRO registrant on eBay, the process would essentially be the same.
You did the right thing in notifying eBay about this, and they gave you the right advice to ignore it. I would go further and suggest that you not contact the company or companies who own these products in any way, but report this fraudulent letter to the authorities. There are governmental internet watchdog agencies that may be able to deal with the source of this chicanery. I'm afraid I don't have a link for you immediately, but someone else here may be able to suggest an internet fraud reporting site connected with the federal government or an international authority.
Since I did this sort of work for so many years, it's actually a fun exercise for me to analyze the stupidities in a fraudulent "notice". Rather than clog up this discussion with a lengthy exegesis, I'll do it off-line and post it shortly as a jpeg scan.
