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Hi,
First time poster and hoping for some assistance with a dilemma my partner and I are having.
My partner runs a reasonably successful jewellery website.
Nothing huge, but a good income for her.
Her most popular line is a particular type of necklace, gold Zodiac symbols on a pendant.
These are hugely popular and there are a myriad of different types.
She sourced her product in China, ships from there and packages and distributes in the UK.
Today she has received a cease and desist letter from a large French organisation.
They no longer sell the necklaces on their site but have a few concessions in the UK that do.
They are citing that the necklace is a copy based on various, reasonably generic, aspects of the necklace and pendant - and that this is illegal under French law.
They're asking for accounts, destruction of current stock.
Ultimately, it is the same looking necklace.
The identical necklace that my partner sells is available from multiple sellers in China (not that surprising).
However it is also available from multiple large online marketplaces, eBay, Etsy, Amazon - from businesses similar to my partners who are selling in the thousands of these necklaces.
All of the above sites have pretty rigorous anti-IP infringement policies and so we're really struggling to understand if this is just a power play, as surely the first port of call would be removing listings from these sites, which from what I can gather, would be pretty simple.
Lastly, would really appreciate some guidance on what the next steps for this French company would be in the UK/Post-Brexit court system.
Happy to answer any questions if this would aid in assisting us.
Thanks in advance.
James
First time poster and hoping for some assistance with a dilemma my partner and I are having.
My partner runs a reasonably successful jewellery website.
Nothing huge, but a good income for her.
Her most popular line is a particular type of necklace, gold Zodiac symbols on a pendant.
These are hugely popular and there are a myriad of different types.
She sourced her product in China, ships from there and packages and distributes in the UK.
Today she has received a cease and desist letter from a large French organisation.
They no longer sell the necklaces on their site but have a few concessions in the UK that do.
They are citing that the necklace is a copy based on various, reasonably generic, aspects of the necklace and pendant - and that this is illegal under French law.
They're asking for accounts, destruction of current stock.
Ultimately, it is the same looking necklace.
The identical necklace that my partner sells is available from multiple sellers in China (not that surprising).
However it is also available from multiple large online marketplaces, eBay, Etsy, Amazon - from businesses similar to my partners who are selling in the thousands of these necklaces.
All of the above sites have pretty rigorous anti-IP infringement policies and so we're really struggling to understand if this is just a power play, as surely the first port of call would be removing listings from these sites, which from what I can gather, would be pretty simple.
Lastly, would really appreciate some guidance on what the next steps for this French company would be in the UK/Post-Brexit court system.
Happy to answer any questions if this would aid in assisting us.
Thanks in advance.
James
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