Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: knock off purses

"Knock-offs," in the sense that they are likely to cause consumers to be confused between where the products came from (e.g., whether they were made and sold by a brand-name designer), or if they were substantially copied after having access to the original product, they are likely illegal as trademark and copyright infringements, respectively. Ultimately, if the sale of a knock-off results in the loss of a sale by the original producer, or if it trades off the good name and reputation of another party, it is likely illegal.

People trade in knock-offs because they think they can get away with it. Some do, lots don't. As a disincentive to trade in knock-offs, consider that a perpetrator may be subject to criminal penalties as well as civil damages.

Re: knock off purses

Yes, you ........., and I don't know that they are really sold everywhere, but those who are selling them just haven't been quite yet. Call me from jail.

Re: knock off purses

There are lots of knock-off products in the marketplace, and this has been the case for decades, if not centuries.

Whether selling a copy of a well-known product is illegal or not depends upon whether one or more of numerous laws intended to protect buyers and/or sellers is broken. These law may include copyright, trademark, patent, anti-fraud and other laws, both statutory and judge-made case law. The reason there are many copycat products in the market is that the knock-off artists make money doing it, or think they will....its like asking why there are so many exceeding the speed limit on the highway. It's illegal but it seems to pay off in a risk-reward sense.

A disclaimer would do little good....might give you a defense to a fraud charge, but would be evidence against you in a trademark case.

The boundary between a probably-legal designer-inspired creation and a probably-illegal product that would be deemed a copy in court is very, very technical and the subject of expert testimony and lengthy courtroom controversy in case after case for trademark infringement. It would be utterly impossible to give advice through a bulletin board that would be of any value to you in figuring out whether a proposed "designer-inspired" product infringed or not.

One possibly useful test is to ask yourself whether the proposed product would cause an average consumer to be reminded of the (other)designer's original work. If the answer is yes, you have at least the possibility of expensive litigation on your hands.