It is a positive result so far, but we have received a few more letters again stating their client will no longer take action as long as we sign an return the agreement or matters will again be escalated. We have made changes to some product images on the site, but we have done so as a gesture of goodwill and admitting no liability or accepting their claims are true. I don't see any real conviction behind their claims as they are no longer asking for costs or damages, but I don't see how this will go away if we carry on ignoring them.

Just a quick update.... . After considering opinions and various points of view, thank you all for the responses, I did send them quite a forceful letter explaining our views on their claims and gave some detailed response to their claims without admitting any liability, and also emphasized that we would seek to compensation due to loss of earnings if they decided to escalate matters as the site has been down since receiving the initial letter. Four weeks later we received a letter from PB stating that their client would no longer be taking matters further as we had taken steps to changes parts of our site as a gesture of goodwill, but they still demand we sign their agreement within 5 days. If they are now willing to change their minds about perusing matters after we have admitted no liability, why would we then sign their agreement, which may incriminate us or hold us accountable? PB make no sense to me.

what you are saying is the firm have authority from BMW to protect IP rights, but how the firm go about it is totally independent of BMW i.e. asking for money etc?

The issues that concerns me most, is how such a firm is allowed to gain authority from BMW to handle such matters. As stated in my initial post, they did sent through a copy of a signed letter from BMW and also BMW themselves confirmed that they had contacted Palmer Biggs after I contacted BMW directly via email.

Thank you for the responses and the links. Those are the links, which I read previously. There has been many threads opened but none that detail the final outcomes. I think it is best that we formally respond to their letters, and will detail some changes we have made on the site as a gesture of goodwill and at our own cost, but if they decide to escalate matters further then we would also look to claim costs and loss of earnings ourselves due to taking the site down whilst we sort this matter out. I will also state that we are not prepared to sign and provide any undertakings, unless they have proof of damages etc. Will keep you posted, but i doubt they will back down unless they get some monetary settlement.

Hi, I have read numerous threads on the firm Palmer Biggs Legal, but still unsure what to do or how to proceed with a response as their tactics seem quiet forceful and also unreasonable with regards to costs asked for etc. I run a very small, loss making Ltd company, which specialise in aftermarket parts for BMW. The site is of our own design however as we specialise in the BMW brand, we did use a resemblance of the BMW logo as a favicon for example in our URL, an some of our replacement parts are supplied with separate BMW logos as they are required to complete the look of the complex replacement part. They claim as the photos of some of our products have trademarked logos on them we are IP infringement and that also customers could be confused to the original source of the parts i.e. they are genuine. I feel this hard to believe as the parts we sell are not even offered by BMW in the first place (we offer replacement parts but in different colour to OEM parts). However, the OEM part has a BMW logo them, which we need to supply in order to provide a good replacement. We have assumed that when we acquired the badges that accompany a few of our products that the supplier had rights to the logo etc. There was never as conversation about IP infringement when purchasing the badges. However, the badges have now been removed as we haven't sold any for over a year or more and also to save future headaches. I must stress that we do not manufacture any of the products or the badges, custom or replacement that are supplied with a very few of the parts that we believe are required in order to complete the look of the replacement part. Nor do we claim anywhere on the site that parts are genuine or affiliated with BMW. We received the original letter over a month ago asking for costs of over £1000, which included the firms research (basically screening shots of the site) and asking we sign their agreement etc and disclose stock, profits and suppliers etc. Reading advise on the forum , I did not engage with Palmer Biggs bit did contact BMW directly as I have nothing to hide and the also firm had made some mistakes on their original letter, which made me feel that the letter could be a fake or not a genuine. I was told by BMW that the firm does represent them for IP infringement and that I should do what they say etc. I also received a letter from Palmer Biggs with a photocopy of a letter, which implies they do represent the BMW group. Today I received another letter from the firm informing me that as we have not formally responded their client is looking to escalate proceedings if i do not sign their agreement with a daft court letter with Palmer Biggs claiming up to £15,000 in costs and damages on behalf of BMW. Considering we have not sold many of the items they originally highlighted for over a year on the site and we are a company operating at loss can they really claim that amount? I'm unsure of how to respond, they have given 7 days to reply. Advice would be appreciated.

Hi, I have read numerous threads on the firm Palmer Biggs Legal, but still unsure what to do or how to proceed with a response as their tactics seem quiet forceful and also unreasonable with regards to costs asked for etc. I run a very small, loss making Ltd company, which specialise in aftermarket parts for BMW. The site is of our own design however as we specialise in the BMW brand, we did use a resemblance of the BMW logo as a favicon for example in our URL, an some of our replacement parts are supplied with separate BMW logos as they are required to complete the look of the complex replacement part. They claim as the photos of some of our products have trademarked logos on them we are IP infringement and that also customers could be confused to the original source of the parts i.e. they are genuine. I feel this hard to believe as the parts we sell are not even offered by BMW in the first place (we offer replacement parts but in different colour to OEM parts). However, the OEM part has a BMW logo them, which we need to supply in order to provide a good replacement. We have assumed that when we acquired the badges that accompany a few of our products that the supplier had rights to the logo etc. There was never as conversation about IP infringement when purchasing the badges. However, the badges have now been removed as we haven't sold any for over a year or more and also to save future headaches. I must stress that we do not manufacture any of the products or the badges, custom or replacement that are supplied with a very few of the parts that we believe are required in order to complete the look of the replacement part. Nor do we claim anywhere on the site that parts are genuine or affiliated with BMW. We received the original letter over a month ago asking for costs of over £1000, which included the firms research (basically screening shots of the site) and asking we sign their agreement etc and disclose stock, profits and suppliers etc. Reading advise on the forum , I did not engage with Palmer Biggs bit did contact BMW directly as I have nothing to hide and the also firm had made some mistakes on their original letter, which made me feel that the letter could be a fake or not a genuine. I was told by BMW that the firm does represent them for IP infringement and that I should do what they say etc. I also received a letter from Palmer Biggs with a photocopy of a letter, which implies they do represent the BMW group. Today I received another letter from the firm informing me that as we have not formally responded their client is looking to escalate proceedings if i do not sign their agreement with a daft court letter with Palmer Biggs claiming up to £15,000 in costs and damages on behalf of BMW. Considering we have not sold many of the items they originally highlighted for over a year on the site and we are a company operating at loss can they really claim that amount? I'm unsure of how to respond, they have given 7 days to reply. Advice would be appreciated.