Ask YC: Should I be afraid of being sued?

Where is the trademark registered ? (ok, that seems to be answered, in the US, and you are not in the US)

Does the company that contacted your retailer have representation in the same jurisdiction as the retailer ?

Are they actively selling a product under that tradename ?

Is there possible confusion between your product and their product (trademarks are only for a very specific market segment) ?

If you go and use google to search for that tradename do they come up ?

(if you're in the same jurisdiction and the answer is 'yes' to most of the above then you may have an issue, if the reseller bought the product from you and resold it in a different jurisdiction than yours then the buck probably stops with the reseller).

Also, most of these are 'cease and desist', in other words, if you do not stop we'll sue you.

At $2k the damage is very much more limited than what it will cost the 'offended' party to sue.

If the answer to all of the above is 'no', then I'd say give them your lawyers address and see what happens next.

I'm not a laywer but I do hold several trademarks and have been involved in a trademark dispute in the past.

I wouldn't sweat it too much, getting letters from lawyers is part and parcel when you run a business. It's unfortunate but it is true.

Your first letter in a trademark case will always be a cease & desist, if I understand my IP lawyer friends correctly, so as long as you cease & desist you should be fine. You'll get sued if you don't cease & desist.

Thank you all for your replies - I really apreciate this - what a great community this is!