The Third Circuit recently ruled that Amazon could be held liable for defective products sold by the third-party sellers on Amazon.com. This is particularly noteworthy because not only does it mark the first court to find Amazon liable for products sold by third-party...
Content By Alex E. Jones
How One Manufacturer Thought Outside the Box to Stop Unauthorized Resellers
A recent federal court decision serves as another reminder to manufactures and brands of the importance and benefits of reseller and distribution agreements. These types of agreements govern the relationship between a manufacturer of goods and the reseller of...
Gray Market Goods: The Dirty Secret That Could Be Cutting Into Your Profits
We live in a global economy, and companies operate in international marketplaces. As such, brands need to be aware of and monitor the increasing prevalence of gray market goods. Gray market goods – sometimes referred to as parallel imports – are genuine goods...
District Court Deals Blow to Unauthorized Resellers, Confirming First Sale Doctrine Not Absolute
In ADG Concerns, Inc. v. Tsalevich LLC, the Northern District of California found that the defendant’s unauthorized resale of plaintiff ADG Concerns’ products amounted to trademark infringement and unfair competition. The decision is a win for manufacturers...
Protect Your Brand by Protecting Your Domain
Have you ever typed a company’s name in a URL only to be taken to a non-functioning website filled entirely with ads or be re-directed to a website for a competitor of the company? This is likely the work of a cybersquatter. Cybersquatting generally refers to...
Creating Legal and Enforceable MAP Policies
As Amazon, eBay and other Internet marketplaces continue to dominate the retail industry, manufacturers and distributors face increasing numbers of on-line counterfeit and gray market resellers. These resellers list products at lower price points cutting into...
Protecting Your Brand From Unauthorized Resellers, Part 3: Identifying Resellers
Unauthorized online resellers are a growing brand protection problem for a manufacturers, particularly as consumers continue to do more and more of their shopping on sites like Amazon and eBay. Unauthorized resellers purchase products in bulk from third-party sellers...
Protecting Your Brand From Unauthorized Resellers Online, Part 2
By: Alex Jones In Part 1 of this series, we looked at the importance of registering and protecting your trademarks as a means of warding off unauthorized resellers of your products. While trademark infringement claims are an important tool in fighting unauthorized...
Controversial “White Collar” Overtime Rule Struck Down by Texas Judge
On August 31, 2017, a United States District Court Judge in Texas, Judge Amos L. Mazzant III, struck down a portion of the Obama administration’s so-called overtime rule, which it introduced in May 2016. The new rule would have increased the minimum salary level for...
Protecting Your Brand From Unauthorized Resellers Online, Part 1
The scenario is a familiar one – you’re a manufacturer and seller of goods and come to discover unauthorized retailers selling your products at lower prices on websites like Amazon and eBay. These unauthorized resellers undercut your sales, anger your true authorized...