Intellectual Property - Facebook

[ShiftyLookingBadger]

I had a 'preloved' buy and sell group on Facebook. The page has just been reported by a clothing company for breach of intellectual property. Please can someone clarify. The company name is mentioned among others in the page title but clearly with preloved etc in the title. NO company wording or artwork or anything apart from the name. I can contest it but am I in the right? There are lots of other very big buy and sell groups on Facebook for Boden, Next, Joules, JoJo Maman Bebe to name a few so I'm not sure why this company is able to get my page removed? Or are they just having a go in the hopes that I don't fight it? Thanks!

The company may be concerned that people will think you are associated with them in some way. The central question is whether the average consumer would be confused. I presume Facebook have given you contact details for the company that has objected. I would suggest that your next step is to contact them and query their actions.

If the use of the company's trade mark on your page is merely to describe the goods being sold (e.g. "Fatface hoodie"), that does not infringe the trade mark.

If posters are using photographs taken from the company's website of the items they are selling, then they are infringing copyright in the photos, because you cannot just use a photo taken by someone else without their permission to use it.

Has Facebook sent you details of what the company is actually complaining about?