Imagenetix vs MonaVie Lawsuit
Imagenetix vs MonaVie Case Details:
On May 5, 2008 Imagenetix filed a lawsuit against MonaVie with the San Diego Federal Court. They were asking for $2.75 Billion in fees. They claimed MonaVie committed seven different counts of trademark infringements. The allegations are as follows:
1. Trademark Infringement
2. Trademark Dilution and Blurring
3. False Advertising and False Designation of Origin
4. Unfair Competition
5. Common Law trademark infringement, Trademark Dillution, and Unfair Competition
6. Unfair Competition Under California Business and Prof. Code 17200
7. Unjust Enrichment and Imposition of Constructive Trust
The defendants comprised not only MonaVie, LLC, the president and VP’s, but also many of the company’s best distributors individually. This is scary for a lot of us in the network marketing industry.
Imagenetix vs MonaVie Case Study:
Imagenetix is claiming that MonaVie reps are maliciously broadcasting that their trademarked product Celadrin is a component in MonaVie Active. MonaVie Active is a juice nutrient product promoted through direct sales by MonaVie reps. Celadrin is an one-of-a-kind proprietary fatty acid complex applied to bolster joint health.
According to Imagenetix MonaVie distributors are utilizing internet web pages and conventions to malevolently advertise that MonaVie uses Celadrin. They are also reporting that MonaVie Active helps with your joints and arthritis as a result of it reaching Celadrin in it.
Obviously, MonaVie Active does not include Celadrin in it, nor did Imagenetix supply acknowledgment for these guys to use the trademark name Celadrin.
The End Result:
It appears that MonaVie warned their reps not to practice the Celadrin trade name in their building up. However, gobs did not listen and this case resulted. MonaVie settled this injunction with Imagenetix by buying the Celadrin product from them. MonaVie then actually added Celadrin into MonaVie Active. Doing this got Imagenetix to drop the suit.
This is a very interesting case where all network marketers could find out a lesson. We are so eager to simply get making money that sometimes we don’t read the fine print in our contractual agreement with our affiliate enterprise. MonaVie had to spend a lot of money to purchase Celadrin in order to get Imagenetix to drop that accusation. That means less money to pay its distributors in the form of commissions. This is bad for all involved.
As we all build our businesses in mlm we will be held more accountable and liable for stuff similar to this. This is even more important as network marketing moves online. The mass companines hold strict rules regarding what you can and can’t promote online. A whole slew contain their own company websites where you can send others to buy item or sign up as a business owner. They also hold strict regulations regarding their own company trademarks, logos, and graphics. We as network marketers must do our due diligence and read the small words in our contracts. Then we need to abide by these regulations or risk being put out of business. It would totally suck if you worked your tail off and built a great organization just to have it taken from you on a technicality wouldn’t it?
There is a solution to the dilemma of how to market effectively online while staying with in the regulations set forth by your company.
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