sued for patent infringement, need suggestions please

[aviator3141]

Hi all.  I recevied a lawsuit for patent infringement. It appears to be real and I have contacted the law office and explained that I am a small reseller. They are offering to settle for $1500.  I purchased this item at an amazon bin store, it is a small item worth $8.  I did not sell it.  All they have is a screen shot of the item for sale from ebay and have locked my paypal account. As stated this item was purchased at a bin store with amazon products, it has an amazon label and still scans from the amazon app. I know assuming it is legit from amazon is no excuse but I bought it at a store. Note that this item was never sold by my, I still have it, it was pulled by ebay under vero with a note that a lawsuit had been filed.  I only had one and explained this to the law firm. The item was also listed as unbranded and did not claim to be of any brand. Have seen a few cases like this where after explaining the law firm dropped the seller from the lawsuit.   At this point I feel like I am being scammed by the law firm for money.  Would appreciate any help I can get.  Thanks

[hartungcards]

If I were you, I'd tell them you'll take the $1500.

[redmodelt]

How can someone be sued for patent infringement if they are not making the item? 

[dbfolks166mt]

     Out of curiosity what exactly was this item? 

[krazzykats]

Do not give anyone the item, use it yourself, or destroy it.   

Do not give it away, as it may cause grief for someone else as well.  jmho.  

[aviator3141]

it is a faucet swivel which is still on amazon

[krazzykats]

Then I wouldn't respond further.   Until I am officially served papers, I would not do anything.

A long time ago something like this happened to me.  A very large software company (not Microsoft), sent me a notification that a brand new piece of popular software I had listed could not be resold on eBay or anywhere.

It was a physical demand (cease and desist) letter sent on official company letterhead and sent either USPS priority/certified mail to me.  Pretty scary and I had no idea what to do.

The license on the software had never been registered, and everything was still factory-sealed.

Since those guys are bigger$ than me, I destroyed it.  They had requested (demanded) that I send the software to them, but I chose to destroy it so it could never be listed again.  I never heard from that software company, again.   Nor did I pay any $ fine. 

I think I did right thing by removing the offending product from circulation.

[dhbookds]

Did they notify  you by email/regular mail with a copy of the lawsuit? 

[dbfolks166mt]

it is a faucet swivel which is still on amazon

Brand or better yet can you post a screen shot of the item and/or a link to the Amazon listing? I did a search on Amazon for faucet swivel and came up with hundreds of faucet swivels. 😀

[dhbookds]

Says in the lawsuit they locked 3rd party accounts

have you checked that with paypal?  if you received no money for the item...never sold it....can't imagine how they could "lock" an account. 

when you listed it......did you list as new or used?

[inhawaii]

I'm going to give you contradicting advice.

It's contradicting advice because my advice is: 

Don't seek legal advice on the ebay boards. Find a good lawyer.

[meme6253]

It was taken down due to a Vero infringement, not relisted, not sold, You don't owe them anything!, See if you can get a free consult from a lawyer in this field, Best Of Luck To You!!

[inhawaii]

"We'll take $1500 to make it all go away" sounds very fishy to me.

I'm wondering if the op is in fact dealing with a legitimate lawsuit. 

I would bet NOT.

[isaiah53-57]

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@aviator3141 wrote:

Hi all.  I recevied a lawsuit for patent infringement. It appears to be real and I have contacted the law office and explained that I am a small reseller. They are offering to settle for $1500.  I purchased this item at an amazon bin store, it is a small item worth $8.

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@aviator3141

I have a question - If you only had one of these, why on earth would you take your VERY precious time, the most valuable thing you own, to list an $8 item on ebay? Really, this is a valid question and one you should ask yourself EVERY TIME you think about listing something here - I mean what did you stand to gain anyway? a couple dollars profit? But that also with the chance that someone would scam you out of the item and the shipping both, or it would get lost or damaged in the mail, or something far worse, like you are seeing now - the question stands...

[retro_entertainment_collectibles]

Its time to panic...  Time to call you're State Attorney General distraught after buying something for $8 at a store that does Amazon returns and such.  Now some law firm wants extort $1500 from me claiming a violated a patent!  How could I violate a patent?  I didn't copy it, make it, reproduce it all I did was buy it in a store!  How can they do this to people?  What do I do?  How many citizens have they done this to?

Basically, they'll direct you to a form and file the complaint.  When you're done doing that contact you're local Congressman or Congresswomans office and give them the distraught emotions and fear you're feeling just as you did above.

Understand something...  These public officials are you're representatives and you'd be very surprised at what they can do.

[lamber9347 · Accepted solution]

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@nick101902 wrote:

I had something similar happen to me.  I had a watch listed with the word "movement".  eBay took my listing down and a law firm contacted me in regards to their client Mr. Movement.  They told me to cease and desist, I called their bluff and challenged the validity of their claim.  After some  back and forth they agreed I did nothing wrong.  Their client thought he owned the word Movement, he was mistaken.  I used my associates degree in Electrical Engineering to win a battle with a law firm, lol

Good luck to you, most of the time they just try to bully the little guy, I say fight them, ask for discovery, see what they have to back up their claim.  Odds are they are bluffing to obtain money from you.

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@aviator3141 This right here, fight it totally and completely. I'm not saying this is a typical scam, but this is the same reasoning of how a scam actually works- by using fear. A scam is successful because it relies on the fear of the recipient to pay whatever the amount is in order to make this go away. That's why we continually read about others being scammed. 

This is not how our court system works. You never actually sold this item, you had the intention to sell it, there is a difference in that. The intention is quite different from the actual act of doing the 'crime'. By fighting back they will see that you understand you do not need to pay them anything and that you are not a typical pushover. You are welcome to consult an attorney and you can find great advice from free consultations. Most likely an attorney will gladly take your case at a fraction of their normal fee once you call them. Who knows, a good attorney may want to countersue them for you. 

You didn't break any vero laws because you never sold the item, you never took any money for it, plus you were probably charged fees for listing it. The amount was only $8.00 to begin with and yes the amount also makes a difference. They cannot prove intention from you. You have so much on your side here, it would be a shame for you not to fight this, but ultimately that is your decision to make. I do hope you come back to post a follow-up once resolved. Best of luck to you....