Legality of replicas

[VictorKS]

Hey guys, I just made this thread to discuss the legality of websites such as this one.

We are essentially selling 'counterfeit' items in the M2M sections. Is that illegal and is any punishable action possible to enforce upon someone who is selling a rep by police etc?


Probably not as websites such as this one have been here for a while and I'm assuming they just don't target the 'little' guys so I am wrong.



And just as a point, I'm referring to US laws in this post as I'm from US.

 

[Rush]

This is a great topic. Would also like to hear what the forum has to say.

 

[NCRich]

Legal to own, illegal to sell in the US. The police have better things to do than worry about replica watches. You would have to be stupid obvious and selling in quantity to even begin to attract attention. Too much meth in the world.

 

[Luxuracer]

In the U.S., federal law protecting trademarks makes it illegal to knowingly traffic counterfeit goods, which includes the production, sale and transport of such goods. The U.S. Department of Justice, however, has stated that federal law doesn’t prohibit an individual from buying a counterfeit product for personal use, even if they do so knowingly.

 

[VictorKS]

I know it isn't illegal to buy a replica knowingly. What is concerning though, is that selling a replica can have major ramifications for the seller. especially for those people selling multiple reps a month (you know who you are

My question is, if a government force, be it the police fbi or any government agency, is there any action they can take to penalize someone selling on a forum like this?

I suppose the only excuse could be that the payment is though PayPal gift so both parties are simply 'gifting' each other the item. Anyways, let me know what you guys think.

 

[HorFan]

The only crime lies in selling a counterfeit as if it were the genuine item. Geeky enthusiasts selling "model" watches to each other as "model" watches is pretty low on the enforcement priorities list.if it's even on the list.

 

[Timnic54]

I think the difference between commercially exploiting the IP of another without permission and disposing of, without profit, a personal item, is the crux of the matter.