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basic question about trademark law

puchsiapopuchsiapo subscriber Posts: 1
edited January 2009 in Protecting Your Ideas
hi all,
i am new here. i have started a small product development & manufacture 
company and i have an important IP question.
my main product line features horticultural goods for sale to home 
gardeners. two of the items that i wish to sell are substrates used for 
rooting plants. both are existing trademarked products with somewhat 
different original intended applications: one is used as a soil amendment 
on athletic fields. i had planned to repackage them in smaller bags, then 
rebrand as my product line. the other company`s brand won`t appear 
anywhere on the packaging and i will not be altering the materials in any other way.
does this sound OK? do I need any kind of licensing agreement with the 
other company`s? i already asked my attorney, who was of the opinion that this is legal. what do you think?
thanks,
-puchisapo
puchsiapo1/10/2009 2:55 PM
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Comments

  • puchsiapopuchsiapo subscriber Posts: 1
    thanks! it sounds as though my situation is somewhat different in that i wasn`t planning on entering any kind of negotiation with the third party manufacturer. in fact, i would rather avoid it because i have arrangements with several other manufacturers already. 
    that is a pretty cool product. i have done several conversions of lawn into vegetable and flower gardens and it can really be a lot of work to undo a tough sod. plus, i`m no fan of lawns, especially big, expansive lawns, so i think anything that can turn a lawn into something else is a good idea.thanks again Eric. i would like to hear any other suggestions that anybody else might have. are there any lawyers out there?-Devin
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  • patentandtrademarkpatentandtrademark subscriber Posts: 103
    Have the lawyer put the opinion in writing and explain the opinion. By analogy, I’m not so sure you can buy a pair of LEVI brand jeans, tear off the tag, sew on your own tag, resell the “new” jeans, and be immune from trademark infringement.  Hire [read "pay"] somebody that knows trademark law.

     
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  • puchsiapopuchsiapo subscriber Posts: 1
    yep, i am now planning to just approach the other company. there is also a question of a MSDS associated with their product, which i will also probably have to provide. thanks very much for the feedback.
    -D
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