Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Selling where another has an exclusive license.

Absolutely!!! Exclusive license holder can enjoin you from selling.

Re: Selling where another has an exclusive license.

The four prior answers are all over the map. I'm at home now and can't consult my library, but my recollection is that you can resell any product you can acquire so long as in doing so you don't infringe copyright and trademark protection held by the U.S. licensee. Thus I would tend to agree with Mr. Roth and disagree with Ms. Ghosh.

Re: Selling where another has an exclusive license.

Mssrs. Choi and Hoffman are correct in saying that more facts and details are needed to answer your question with accuracy. "Exclusive" does not necessarily mean the sole right to sell everywhere in a country to every market. You should see an attorney right away, before you buy and import more product. If you have contacts with a French distributor, you are certainly well-situated to contact the manufacturer, present your market and ideas, and see if you can make an authorized arrangement with them. Also, you could be facing significant damages not just from potential liability, but also in loss of goods that you have paid for and tried to import. The distributor and the manufacturer can register with US Customs to inspect and stop the import of unauthorized goods--i.e., your goods. The goods will be tied up in a dock or receiving center for a while, and may be reshipped to France, if they get caught by any inspection. Registration with Customs is easy for the other parties. Getting your goods back is expensive.

Re: Selling where another has an exclusive license.

With the limited facts you have provided, it is indeed possible that someone holding an exclusive license in the US could prevent you from selling the product in the US. It would depend on the license language, the time it was aquired, and any agreements that you have with the manufacturer. However, further detailed investigation would be required to provide a better answer. It is important that you do this prior to investing heavily on marketing, etc. If you are in the area and wish further consultation on the matter, please contact our office.

Re: Selling where another has an exclusive license.

A firm where I used to work actually litigated this question all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that -- under the particular agreements in effect in that case -- the re-imported products could be sold in competition with the exclusive local distributor. This was not the result our client wanted, but it did serve to clarify the law somewhat.

As Mr. Choi's answer states, there is no way to give you a definitive response without more details. The case I described above is much more complex and detail-driven than my brief account suggests, so you should not base any decisions on this very incomplete analysis. Do feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss the matter further.

Re: Selling where another has an exclusive license.

The body of law I would be worried about is Trademark and Servicemark infringement. If the product sold in France is different than that authorized for sale in the US, then your importation and sale of the Euro version of the product may infringe upon trademarks owned by the US distributors.