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Watch confiscated and lawyer letter


orna18

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A friend of mines cousin had a watch repaired by trusty time. On its return

it was confiscated by customs in miami and he recieved a letter from a lawyer claiming to 

represent Rolex threatening a $2 million lawsuit and years in jail. It said he should cease buying replica rolex copies. 

Has this been happening to anyone else?

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It seems a bit heavy handed. Customs is a risk we all run, but my understanding is that it is not illegal to own or buy counterfeit goods in the USA, it is certainly perfectly legal here. I understand France and Italy take quite a hard line. 

The letter from Rolex is harder to understand. If they had ever really wanted to curb copies of their products they could be more proactive on dealers and manufacturers. My feeling is that having the most copied watches in the world quietly suits them very well. I doubt they have ever lost a single sale to a sub five hundred Dollar knock off. On the other hand it helps keep their name a household name and a good few people eventually upgrade to genuine. Why would they take an individual owning a watch for their own pleasure to court? They are unlikely to be able to extract  $2 Million from an average rep buyer, court order or not. The publicity would make them look rather draconian and as already stated they would be better addressing the seller's. Sabre rattling? Someone at Customs idea of a joke? 

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Key words here are "distribution and sale", neither of which you were doing based on your description, and the word "may" in the last sentence (meaning they aren't trying to require you to respond).

 

Funny how they have dramatically softened the wording of the letter compared to what we were seeing in the mid-to-late 2000's.

 

Bottom line is still the same. No need to respond. You can toss the letter after you have sent a copy to your dealer, who normally wants to see it before sending a replacement.

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ignore it
the tone of these letters have softened down
these lawyer letters require no legal obligation to respond
don't respond them - if not you will fuel the fire and give them legal confirmation against you in the future

'you MAY provide us with written confirmation of your compliance...' (i.e. may = expressing possibility)
not 'must' or any other similar words that requires legal obligation 

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I am no expert on American law, but I am part way through law qualifications here. In my view that letter is bullshit and contains many carefully crafted sentences that have no meaning in law but are designed to terrify those without legal knowledge. As stated "may" has no legal standing and I would interpret it as "definitely do not". As to Rolex "demanding". Well I demand you immediately buy me a Noob  V7. I or Rolex can "demand" anything at all, but if we had serious claim we would back the claim up. For example "I demand you send me a Noob V7, unless I am in receipt of said watch by Sept 7th I will initiate immediate court action. I may quote relevant case law. If I was lucky enough to receive such a letter, I would frame it and hang it in my toilet. Under no circumstances would I respond.

 

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i just had one confiscated by customs in jacksonville and literally got no letter or anything. dealer sent another one and changed address. Also if it was a serious letter most legal documents are sent certified mail where you would have to sign. Everything that i have gotten from my attorney or had to send has been certified mail.

Edited by Covey850
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