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Gillette wilkinson sword's illegal to sell in the US

I recently had some gillette wilkinson sword blades for sale on the bay and they were kicked off by ebay stating this

"[FONT=Arial, Verdana]Your listing was removed after the rights owner reported it as counterfeit. We urge you to contact the rights owner directly for more information about why they requested the removal of your listing and whether you can relist the item."[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Verdana]I was fairly intrigued and very positive that I did not have any for of a counterfeit blade so I attempted to contact the person listed as the rights owner which turns out to be the [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Eveready Battery Company. Today I finally received a response from them and it is as follows.

"
[/FONT]Thanks for your email. The subject items infringe Eveready Battery Company’s WILKINSON SWORD trademark in all countries where we have rights to the mark (including the US). See United States Trademark Registration Nos 613015, 3059573, 2944019, 3245338, and 2976022 for examples of a few of our registered trademarks.

Specifically, these listings features razor blades made by Gillette displaying the WILKINSON SWORD trademark. Gillette is listed as the trademark owner of the WILKINSON SWORD mark in India. In the United States, the Eveready Battery Company owns the WILKINSON SWORD trademark. To be clear, the sale of these blades would not infringe our rights in India but it does in the US (and everywhere else we own the mark). Given that these products are being made available for sale in the US, these listings infringe on our trademark rights and we cannot allow the continued sale of these products."
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It is a nice enough response I guess but it is very surprising to me that a big company like that is browsing ebay looking for people using there name. Does anyone know of any similar scenarios where its not legal to use certain blades in certain countries??
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I have decided to respect their trademark and not sell them on Ebay. I dont want to try to play wording games to get through a loophole that may or may not be there. I am considering just selling off what I have on the BST here but don't know for sure what I will do. I was just surprised that the same name could be owned by two different companies all based on your location.
 
True for Williams as well.The EU Williams cream is owned by Sara Lee (think cheesecake) ,but Sara does not own South African or U.S. Williams..
 
I don't think its a problem unless you specify in the listing where the manufacturing country of origin is, Germany or that Gillette makes them. I would relist them.

The truth is, Ebay can't be bothered fighting for who is right. You're the minnow and EverReady and Ebay is the Whale.
I had the same problem recently with a Kijijji listing which is like craigslist and owned by ebay. They pulled my ad for resale of a Annual National Park Pass because the pass issuer, Parks Canada informed them that when the pass is signed, the purchaser has accepted the terms and conditions including a specific one that the park pass is not transferable. I correctly argued that since the pass in question was unsigned and unused, it was not yet assigned and such terms and conditions had not yet been validated and accepted under contract law so I was not bound by such terms & conditions and was free to resell it. NO matter, they didn't care. I am the minnow.
 
I always thought they were fakes, having two different logos on them, you know designed that way so that they inherently keyword spam the listings and come up, whether you're searching for 'wilkinson sword' or 'gillette'.
I have to try them now that they're confirmed Indian Gillettes and not some knock-off.
 
Gotta love corporations protecting branding!

They can't ding you for selling "counterfeit blades" if you properly identify them.

Its not that they think they are counterfeit. its that Ever-ready owns and controls the Wilkinson sword brand in the US and Gillette owns the Wilkinson sword brand elsewhere.
 
Its not that they think they are counterfeit. its that Ever-ready owns and controls the Wilkinson sword brand in the US and Gillette owns the Wilkinson sword brand elsewhere.

Then simply sell them with the branding covered. The current strategy of corporate bullying of the little guy is ridiculous. My father-in-law's last name is Chase. Every couple of years he gets a cease and desist letter from Chase Bank to stop using the name "Chase" on his websites. But in this case, the law is on his side. Trademark law had a specific exemption for "infringement" when the infringer had legal use rights such as the use of ones own legal name.

I would relist those blades and push the envelope as far as I could.
 

rockviper

I got moves like Jagger
Good thing nobody lists the make or model of things like cars and such when they sell on the interwebz 'cause that would be breaking trademark ownership. :facep:
 
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