Removing clothing labels before sale
robert
are manufacturing surplus or "over-runs" not seconds.
The clothing is purchased from a UK based distributor.
The owner was telling me that they had to cut out the brand labels
before sale and risked "heavy fines" if they failed to do so.
On what legal basis could they face penalties ?
Would the situation be different if they bought clothes is a sale from
the high street store and resold them in their shop ?
Michael Hoffman
> A local shop sells clothing designed for major high street chains which
> are manufacturing surplus or "over-runs" not seconds.
>
> The clothing is purchased from a UK based distributor.
>
> The owner was telling me that they had to cut out the brand labels
> before sale and risked "heavy fines" if they failed to do so.
>
> On what legal basis could they face penalties ?
Probably their contract with the distributor.
--
Michael Hoffman
Roland Perry
Mar 2008, robert <rob...@invalid.invalid> remarked:
>A local shop sells clothing designed for major high street chains which
>are manufacturing surplus or "over-runs" not seconds.
>
>The clothing is purchased from a UK based distributor.
>
>The owner was telling me that they had to cut out the brand labels
>before sale and risked "heavy fines" if they failed to do so.
The reason being that people would otherwise return the clothes to the
original high street chain and claim a refund. They wouldn't have a
receipt (from the high street chain) but that doesn't always prevent a
refund. I had a friend who worked in such a high street store which had
a street market outside where such surplus items were sold. There was
apparently a constant stream of people trying to get false refunds.
--
Roland Perry
Norman Wells
"robert" <rob...@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:63j9vsF...@mid.individual.net...
>A local shop sells clothing designed for major high street chains which are
>manufacturing surplus or "over-runs" not seconds.
>
> The clothing is purchased from a UK based distributor.
>
> The owner was telling me that they had to cut out the brand labels before
> sale and risked "heavy fines" if they failed to do so.
>
> On what legal basis could they face penalties ?
Trade mark infringement and passing-off. M&S goods for example can only be
sold under that mark with M&S's authorisation. Over-runs have no connection
with M&S, so they never become their goods, and consequently cannot be sold
under their label.
> Would the situation be different if they bought clothes is a sale from the
> high street store and resold them in their shop ?
Yes. Once the goods have been placed on the market, by M&S say, they can be
resold bearing the original marks and labels.
Stutt
themselves to civil liability.
The brand owner probably does not want the public to think that its
goods are sold at other than its own stores because people would buy
the cheaper product if it did. So it requires the goods to be
debranded.
They are probably not allowed to sell them as seconds either; and if
they are debranded, they are not seconds - they are not related at all
to the real product. It is more likely that the lot sold by the local
shop are not up to the brand's standards and the distributor is
seeking to recoup some of its manufacturing costs by selling for as
much as it can under the terms set out by the brand owner.
robert
robert
I can see good reasons for removing the labels - but is there a legal
basis ( except for contract conditions between shop and supplier) for
insisting on label removal and penalties if they fail to do so ?
ISTR that if sourcing from outside the EU then copyright law comes into
it ( Levi and Tescos comes to mind).
robert
Kevin Ashley
The contract conditions will be the overriding factor as they will provide
the simplest remedies to the distributor without the need for legal
action. But other remedies are available, involving IPR rather than
simply copyright. The labels almost certainly contain Trade Marks, for
instance, and the owner of those marks is entitled to control how they
are used.
Gaz
> They would be passing them off as branded products and exposing
> themselves to civil liability.
The brand owner loses exclusivity once it has left the supply chain, and can
no longer enforce copyright....
Gaz
Alex Heney
1. Trademark infringement is not the same as Copyright.
2. They haven't left the "supply chain" at this point, or any other
until they are bought by a retail customer.
--
Alex Heney, Global Villager
... It's tourist season in Florida, bag limit two.
To reply by email, my address is alexATheneyDOTplusDOTcom