Resale of Rolex watches illegal soon?

[QueueCumber]

This article scared me a bit!

http://m.theatlantic.com/national/ar...ht-law/258276/

[conrail]

Well, considering that would put eBay and Craigslist out of business, not to mention be completely impractical at enforcing, I highly doubt it will have any effect on the average joe selling his personal property.

I think this logic will rule the day, even concerning foreign mfg products: "Courts are supposed to interpret laws to avoid "absurd results" and to avoid constitutional problems"

[ducatidoc]

Loved the line about Omega "in order to ensure that Americans pay more for Omega watches....."

[kilyung]

Good luck to the copyright holders in enforcing anything should it go in their favor.

[QueueCumber]

Some companies don't seem to mind throwing around millions to knock out the gray market. The companies don't have to win the cases to drive people out of business with legal fees.

[Rsvrider]

That is crazy!
A) impossible to enforce
B) will make products worthless one purchased which will cause C
C) Black market (expensive) AND
D) Barter system (knocking us back to the era of the Aztecs!)

So, selling your Omega to upgrade to a Rolex....

[Rsvrider]

Originally Posted by QueueCumber

Some companies don't seem to mind throwing around millions to knock out the gray market. The companies don't have to win the cases to drive people out of business with legal fees.

You mean LVMH?
Wonder how will they approach China, or for that matter the US gov?!?
What a crazy notion, thanks for posting. My wife is an attorney and deals with patents, cant wait to show her the article.

[warren G.]

Originally Posted by Rsvrider

D) Barter system (knocking us back to the era of the Aztecs!)

I don't know why that made me laugh.

Will you accept my oyster bracelet for your Ceramic bezel and possibly some Jam?

[Rodentman]

IANAL and I may be naive, but I fail to see why I cannot sell something I legally own and acquired (assuming not stolen) to someone else.

[Tri-Tip]

I can see an issue if you sell your ipod with music on it, and yet you retain a copy of that music to put on your next ipod, but it should not be illegal to sell it with the same data it had on it when you bought it.

[The GMT Master]

I think, at least from a watch point of view, any ruling would only affect the grey market in the truest sense of the word. The correct definition of grey market (although it has seemed to encompass all resellers of Rolex) is buying a watch overseas, importing it (taking advantage of currency fluctuations and local taxes), and then selling it. This is different from a reseller trading using watches sourced within the country they are based

I can't see how it would be possible to stop a person deciding to sell their own property, and I doubt a watch company would want to deal with the negative publicity that would surround such a decision. I wouldn't worry too much, unless you were planning to set up a watch importing business

[Kringkily]

this won't hold up at all. Ebay would die, so would craigslist among newspaper ads, used stores etc... even the used car industry would die between private party sellers. Seriously that judge needs a wake up call. What's really made in America these days? like 5%?

[psv]

Capitalism at its best! :-)

[MoBe]

I`m not going to lose any sleep over an opinion.

[Tri-Tip]

If that law was passed, wouldn't it also be illegal to trade in or sell your car?

[Cru Jones]

There's a difference between buying a product manufactured abroad and distributed locally by the manufacturer (in which case I would think re-sale should be okay) and a third party purchasing goods manufactured abroad and distributing on their own locally when the manufacturer has its own local distribution (in which case it's not so clear to me that the re-seller has a "right" to re-sell).

[Ditch]

At a time when the US & much of Europe have such serious economic difficulties, there's no chance of bringing that new destabilising variable in to effect.

Economists could endlessly argue over whether it would increase American purchase of American products in a protectionist way, or devalue the $ itself. Ultimately nobody knows, so why roll the dice on this when there are more serious economic issues to deal with?

[rodrob59]

Originally Posted by Tri-Tip

If that law was passed, wouldn't it also be illegal to trade in or sell your car?

Mercedes manufactured in Alabama no; Mercedes manufactured in Germany yes. Lease be the only legal alternative if you didn't want to keep it forever. Just thinking about this gives me a headache.