Confusion Over Liability Extends To The Real World, Rather Than Just Online
from the sue-sue-sue-sue dept
Reader jjmsan alerts us to a story that shows that various luxury brands suing service providers rather than those actually responsible doesn't just happen online, but can happen offline as well. Apparently, luxury goods maker Coach is suing the city of Chicago, because some vendors were selling counterfeit goods at the Maxwell Street Market. I'm at a loss as to why suing the city makes any sense at all. In response to the original complaints, the city sent police officers to the market, and actually arrested those selling counterfeit goods (why this is a criminal, rather than a civil, matter is left as an exercise to the reader). Either way, rather than recognize that the city appeared to be more than willing to work with Coach, the company sent a legal threat letter demanding that the city proactively crackdown on counterfeits. When that failed, Coach sued the city. Hopefully the courts will recognize the ridiculousness of suing the city, rather than focusing on the vendors actually responsible.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: chicago, counterfeit, liability
Companies: coach
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Correction required?
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Re: Correction required?
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The downplayed "exercise" is the real story.
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Ummmm
Can I sue the city for not preventing murder?
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Re: Ummmm
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Define Despotism
Ye I wish to share more: We live in a society that expects it from there government now. Wonder why stuff like this goes on? The term is reality engineering and the corporate lawyer backing the case sounds like just the kind of ass hole we look up to these days.
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Right....
Yeah, best of luck shutting down that monster of a tradition. The Maxwell Street Market has been around for DECADES, and they've always sold counterfeit and stolen goods. The city itself has tried to shut it down for years. They even moved it off of Maxwell Street about a decade and a half ago. It doesn't work. Mostly because the Maxwell Street Market is a Chicago tradition (hell, it was featured in the Blues Brothers for Christ's sake).
Pretty much every manufacturer of every consumer good could sue the city of Chicago over Maxwell Street if this was allowed....
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Ban all sales
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Not enough..
oh, wait..
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contributory/vicarious infringement
Not that I agree with it or think it is a good idea to sue the city.
[url]http://www.law.cornell.edu/copyright/cases/76_F3d_259.htm[/url]
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