Self-confessed online fake-vendor: how best to handle him

Some of the IPKat's younger readers
are sure they know the right answer ...

A bright and charming young lawyer has emailed the IPKat with this little note:

"A client based in the US, but having EU-wide trade mark protection, has alerted me to this problem:

'I've located a seller, based in [a picturesque and historical English town: name withheld], who admits on his website that his products (clothing badged with our registered trade marks) are counterfeit.

Taking a closer look at eBay, it appears that he has sold more than a thousand items--  but he doesn't appear to have sold any in the last 15 days. Having located the criminal activity, what are we able to do to stop this action continuing?'.

If we tell eBay that these are counterfeit products, the seller’s auctions will be terminated and these products will go underground before resurfacing elsewhere. The seller's business therefore just carries on after a minor delay -- but continues nonetheless as no goods have been seized. Customs and the Border Agency are a non-starter unless we can show that the goods are coming in over the border and not originating in the UK. More likely they are originating here in the UK, but this needs investigating.

If anyone has experience of this type of scenario I would appreciate their input as my experience is a wee bit theoretical and could do with some extra brain-power".

This Kat has to concede that, in a scenario such as this, his experience is more than a wee bit theoretical. Although, like all good IP bloggers, he is omniscient and infallible, he thinks it might be in order to let his readers give their advice, so he can tell them whether they're right or not.  Please post your comments below or, if for technical or other reasons you can't, just email them to this Kat here and he'll do the rest.