Small Claims Track

[GoonerGary]

Plagued with eBay/ Amazon infringements over the last few years, issuing solicitors letters and VeRO removals, I am considering taking some of them to court via the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (formerly Patents County Court).

http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/rcj-ro ... rise-court

Has anyone used the small claims track for copyright infringement? What did you think of the process?

[Justin]

Used small claims twice last year but for different things. Takes a lot of hard work and even more patience. My first claim, the inital letter was enough to get the 'national' parcel company to cough up. Second claim went on for many months and was settled 2 days before I was due to incur £1k in travel fees. I live in Shetland and my case was assigned to Brighton (defendants home town) Even when you get to court the risks are high as it comes down to their decision.....and even iif you win, getting any money back can be a whole different ball game. I guess what I'm saying, if you're 100% you're going to win then it may be worth it but be ready for a fight! Appreciate your case would be slightly different to mine.

[GoonerGary]

Mine are open and shut cases with plenty of evidence of infringement including visible sales and attempted sales of infringing goods.

Don't like the assigned location, why do I have to travel?

As for collecting money, that's the ultimate goal. Can the court use those sheriffs to walk in and seize assets?

[Justin]

If you bring a case against someone it's allocated to their home town. I believe they consider moving but unlikely. In my experience it's stacked in favour of the defendant. If the court rule in your favour then the defendant will be ordered to pay but if they don't....it's down to you to get the sheriffs etc. to move in.

Mine was open and shut as well but nothing's ever that easy is it?

[James990]

I have an on going one at present. I signed a contract some years ago, and cancelled it within the seven cooling off days, yet they still took money out of my bank account (£750). Then in 2012 I started to get letters from a collection agency.

So I asked for FULL colour copies of the agreements etc. Just as I knew, when I wrote the address I used Merton Surrey, they changed it ON THE CONTRACT itself to London. Therefore they have in fact broken the contract by altering what I had written AFTER I had written it without my consent, so they have no contract and therefore cannot claim the money that they say I owe.

I have pointed this out to them every time they write, and all they do is to send the same type of stock letter. So now I open the letter very carefully, print out my stock reply and send it back in the same envelope, and i don't put a stamp on it!!

I am waiting for them to bring it to county court I will have a field day with them!

James

[Justin]

James, as you've getting letters from a collections agency, is this affecting your credit record? Could be worth checking.

[James990]

Justin

I have membership to experian and as yet there is nowt on it. But to be honest I am not tooo worried about my credit record, it isn't that good anyway, and when I signed the agreement I pointed out to them that I had a bad credit record, and they said oh we will get round that no problem!

James

[Justin]

Wasn't wishing to pry James, just didn't want to see you getting shafted over this Checkmyfile.com are a great website, you can see reports from the 3 main credit agencies so works out a lot cheaper. Good luck with your case.

[James990]

Justin,

No problem, If I didn't want people to know I wouldn't have replied to the tread!

Thanks for the info on checkmyfile, I have found it very interesting that they (Experian) charge £14.99 per month, and say that they will help with any problems, yet when I asked for help about 18 months ago they were as much help as a chocolate fireguard! So I recently telephoned them, because that is the only way to cancel the subscription, you can sign up on line, but can't cancel on line, and told them that when the current months sub is through that it must then be cancelled. Oh they tried and kept me on the phone for an age. I just kept saying that I wish to cancel!

As far as I understand the law, I signed a contract using a certain address, which I wrote on the contract. The other company changed the address and wrote that on the contract. In law if a contract is signed, ANY changes have to be agreed by both parties and signed to that effect. They changed the address details without my consent, and without contacting me in the first place about any changes. Therefore, they have broken the contract and in fact rendered it null and void. Yes I have checked it out with CAB and solicitors.


James

[pisquee]

We used small claims a few years back to get paid from some art workshops my wife had done for a local school, but they were refusing to pay for after years of arguments and excuses. Me and my dad (chartered accountant) both have quite legally minds, so we both tackled prepping all the paperwork, evidence etc. Went to the court, head teacher didn't bother coming even though it was her who had been the problem with not paying, her making all the excuses, and instead she sent a teacher and teaching assistant - who were so nervous and ill prepared (not really knowing the history or what had been discussed) that they were visibly shaking, also they brought paper work into the room which hadn't been pre-submitted, all of this obviously irked the judge somewhat! I'd submitted all our paperwork properly, and had it with me in a big organised file, so could quickly jump to relevent parts to back up our case.
In the end the judge's opinion was that my wife had done the work (with photographic evidence still showing on the front page of the school's website!) and so deserved to be paid, and then turned to the shaking teacher and assistant and said "so, how would you like to pay?!"