Tabberone is pronounced tab ber won not tay ber own

Tabbers Temptations     www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/ Home | Site Index | Disclaimer | Email Me!   "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" Edmund Burke

What To Do If Contacted By Continental Enterprises

We are not lawyers nor do we play lawyers on television. Our opinions on these pages should not be construed as legal advice. When you have a legal problem you should always consult a lawyer. Now that you have read the basic disclaimer, what should you do if contacted by Continental Enterprises? Its been our experience, based upon the information you see on these pages, that Continental Enterprises has only one interest in mind when they contact a potential victim: the monetary settlement. They are not about to let the legal implications interfere with their revenue stream. Every case we have seen involving Continental Enterprises has revolved around trademark infringement claims so we will focus on that one area. Our first advice is to read all of the pages about Continental Enterprises. Then read up about Trademark Extortion. Then read relevant pages concerning trademark infringement. You need to learn what you are up against. Consider that if you were "criminally" involved in trademark infringement Continental Enterprises would not have bothered to contact you but rather they would have turned the entire issue over to federal authorities. Also, if Continental Enterprises could easily prove "willful infringement" and damages they would either demand more money or just go into court and not bother with the extortion letter. You could have been infringing without being aware you were. If you had purchased, or were given, an item that was infringing upon the trademark rights of some company and then attempted to sell that item, trademark law says you were infringing. You may not have been aware the item was infringing but trademark law does not allow for "intent" nor does it make provisions for "lack of knowledge". It does allow for "willfulness". And guess how much Continental Enterprises cares about your lack of "willfulness" or your "lack pf knowledge"? So, the choices here are that either you were infringing or you were not. There are a number of "fair use" defenses to infringement, none of which interest or concern Continental Enterprises. A "fair use" defense just means they don't get their money. So it really doesn't matter if you were infringing or not; Continental Enterprises says you were and that's that. If you were infringing our guess is that what you were doing was so minor that their extortion demands far exceed any damage you have done.

"Any further sale of the Merchandise by you will be considered willful infringement, which is subject to enhanced penalties, including but not limited to, treble damages. Furthermore, you may be subject to temporary or permanent court injunctions, seizure of all infringing materials without notice, liability for actual or statutory damages, and payment of attorney's fees."

We have links explaining all of these threats. Basically, a trademark owner/registrant may be able to obtain lost profits or damages against a defendant in a civil action only if the acts were committed with knowledge that such imitation was intended to be used to cause confusion, mistake, or to deceive. Treble damages and attorney's fees are awarded only in extreme cases where the infringement was malicious. So what does that leave Continental Enterprises? Actual damages or statutory damages, neither of which is likely to be much. Why? Because the people marked by Continental Enterprises for trademark extortion are small time businesses and their damage, if any, will be small. And it is the plaintiff who has to establish the "willfulness" in court. No reasonable judge will award large damages, or possibly any damages, to Continental Enterprises after the Judge learns that you immediately and voluntarily stopped the alleged infringement and indicated your willingness to not sell the alleged infringing item(s) again. The judge would likely admonish Continental Enterprises for bringing suit simply because you refused to pay them off. Continental Enterprises claims their "demand letters" cannot be utilized in evidence because they claim the letters are settlement negotiations which simply isn't true on two accounts. Settlement negotiations require that both parties agree to talk about a possible settlement. An unsolicited cease and desist letter that includes terms of surrender does not meet the criteria for agreeing to discuss settlement. In any event, settlement negotiations can be admitted into evidence for the purposed of impeachment. Using the extortion letters from Continental Enterprises to show that the rejection of their demands for money was the basis of the law suit, not trademark infringement, would not help their case one bit and would likely incur the wrath of the judge.

One company selling stickers gave them a hard time and refused to comply with their demands (see Jack Daniel Hall Of Shame pages) and Continental Enterprises dropped the issue rather than fight more.