VIC Accused of Selling Counterfeit Nike Soccer Jerseys on eBay

[John R]

Hi @Roddy

1. You should consider immediately contacting a lawyer with intellectual property law experience. The Law Institute of Victoria (LIV) has a list of Intellectual Property Lawyers.
2. Based on your information, it appears that you've purchased, and then on-sold, counterfeit Nike products. This generally, among other things, constitutes infringement of Nike's trade marks.
3. Unfortunately, ignorance of the law or the authenticity of the Nike products is not a defence. Unless you have evidence to dispute Nike's claims in relation to authenticity, a timely settlement with Nike (and then suing your supplier for the cost of settlement and legal fees) is likely the best outcome.
4. A lawyer with intellectual property law experience in Melbourne can cost from $200-$500+ per hour. Because of this, you may consider explaining your story, instructing the lawyer to review the correspondence from Nike, set our your options and then draft a response/settlement counter-offer to Nike's lawyers to resolve the issue.

Hope this helps. Please keep us updated with your progress.

 

[Roddy]

That is too much I'm a full time student I have no money myself isn't there any way for me to get free legal advice?

 

[Rod]

That is too much I'm a full time student I have no money myself isn't there any way for me to get free legal advice?

You have been given advice, you don't like it because the advice says you need to spend money. You have already been given valuable pointers on what to do.

And welcome to the real world. Consider this experience a valuable life lesson that may end up costing more than you expected. There is only so much that can be done without knowing the EXACT details of what has happened and this is not something that can be done in a public forum such as this. You haven't helped yourself by not answering a fairly basic question like whether or not the labels had Nike on them. Maybe you feel this will implicate you in an illegal activity, but without knowing these details it is impossible to give specific advice.

You also need to ask yourself why someone should spend hours of their valuable time helping you for free. Think about this for 5-10 mins - consider this a critical reasoning study exercise. If the answer doesn't come to you then I suggest you are not ready to enter the business world.

 

[Michael T]

While I agree that there's no free ride these days and you the best thing would be paid legal advice, you might be able to get some free guidance from your local community legal centre, but its not really an area that a community legal centre lawyer would specialise in. You'll need to decide whether its worth paying up to Nike and whatever else they bring against you, or investing in a lawyer to know and protect where you stand.

 

[John R]

That is too much I'm a full time student I have no money myself isn't there any way for me to get free legal advice?

Hi @Roddy
Unfortunately, intellectual property law is a specialised area of law and Legal Aid Victoria does not provide legal advice for intellectual property law matters.

As @Michael T suggests, the only other "free advice" option may be to contact your local community legal centre (but again, it is unlikely that you'll be able to get free advice for an intellectual property law matter).

You may also consider asking family or friends for funds so that you can engage an intellectual property lawyer and attempt to resolve the matter as soon as possible. This is because costs increase quickly once a legal proceeding starts (especially against a large multinational company and their expensive lawyers) and any decision may impact your future career prospects once you graduate.

All the best. Please keep us updated with your progress.