I'm selling a limited amount of designer branded products that I've managed to obtain. Can any brand tell me to stop selling them eg because I dont have a licence to sell their products etc?
Can the brand identify you as a buyer of their products? Or do you look to them like a seller of fakes? They can try scaring you off selling. Actually stopping you is harder. Your supplier may end up being unable to sell you anything else.
They can certainly make things very difficult for you. Are these goods normally only licensed for sale at specific outlets?
Depends on the company whose goods they are and their provenance - assuming they are genuine? Big companies are probably not going to pick up on someone selling a few of their items, but technically it would likely be illegal, and if you're using their copyright to market them that's another area that is illegal.
Most aspirational brands attempt to place restrictions on who sells their stuff. They have approved methods of appointing wholesalers and retailers, and make it slightly (or very!) hard for you to buy their things. Of course, people step outside that. You can buy branded goods through unofficial channels. But you need to be very careful indeed that you actually have the real thing, traceable back, because if the brand suspect that you are selling fakes then they can take very robust action indeed. It is for that reason that I buy all my stock from the brands approved sources themselves.
I'd agree with that. It comes down to IP protection as well. If you control who can sell what you make (assuming it's something distinct) then it's much easier to spot fakes, copyright infractions etc. We only sell direct. We've had one business breach copyright and it was a very open and shut legal case to get it stopped.
It depends what you're selling and whether the brands are restricted i.e. if you can purchase the brands from major distributers to resell, then chances are you don't need a specific license, but all it's all down to the individual brands. Some brands only allow xx number of retailers in an area, others have minimum RRP prices that all resellers have to abide by.
Minimum RRP is illegal to force, but other less seen arguments can apply ,like not selling to the retailer if they are selling a a price you don't approve of
Are you talking hypothetically here or has the brand actually contacted you? If the latter, try use the opportunity to build a relationship with the brand and cut out the supplier to you.
The brand will almost certainly make some test purchases to see if the goods are genuine, are then start to either threaten or take legal action, either option can be time consuming and expensive. Some brands like Disney tend to take legal action very quickly, others can take a bit of time. FWIW, find something else to sell, much easier.
Doesn't seem like anyone can give me a striaght answer. I'm selling genuine products. If they threaten legal action do I need to stop selling them?
It depends on the type of product/good you are selling. Most big brands have specific outlets for their products and they don't allow any random person to display their products. They can partner with you or penalize.
The straigh answer is the manufacturer can lay down who can sell the items by giving them a licence to sell. for well known brands this may be exclusive to location like only one seller in Kent or within 20 miles this is to protect the brand and the seller so they have a exclusive area to sell in. they may also state you are not allowed to sell on the internet There was a big fight i seem to remember with Tesco and Levi jeans a good few years ago,about grey products it might be worth looking it up
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