Small family-run wholesalers have slammed Unilever's "bullying tactics" after it wrote to them demanding up to £2,000 after they bought grey market goods.
The small businesses are customers of the Vitality Group, a wholesaler sued by Unilever for hundreds of thousands of pounds for selling products that had been put on the market outside the EU and imported without Unilever's permission. Vitality has now gone into administration claiming Unilever's actions helped "push it to the edge".
The Grocer understands that Unilever has written to about 70 businesses, most of them family-run wholesalers, asking for between £500 and £2,000 as a contribution to legal costs and demanding they sign a legal undertaking they will not sell any more grey market goods.
The letter threatens legal action for trademark infringement if its demands are not met.
One wholesaler, which asked not to be named, said it was going to fight the corporate giant through the courts.
The wholesaler claimed it had been asked for £1,000 towards legal costs even though it had only bought about £1,200 of stock from Vitality. It had bought the stock in good faith and offered to return the half it still had, said a spokesman.
"We had no idea the goods were from the grey market," he said. "They have gone for the throat."
Seven Stars Cash & Carry in Ilkeston, has reluctantly written Unilever's lawyers a cheque for £1,000. "We tried to tell them that we bought the products in good faith but they made it clear that they would take the matter further," said buyer Walter Bradshaw.
The small businesses are customers of the Vitality Group, a wholesaler sued by Unilever for hundreds of thousands of pounds for selling products that had been put on the market outside the EU and imported without Unilever's permission. Vitality has now gone into administration claiming Unilever's actions helped "push it to the edge".
The Grocer understands that Unilever has written to about 70 businesses, most of them family-run wholesalers, asking for between £500 and £2,000 as a contribution to legal costs and demanding they sign a legal undertaking they will not sell any more grey market goods.
The letter threatens legal action for trademark infringement if its demands are not met.
One wholesaler, which asked not to be named, said it was going to fight the corporate giant through the courts.
The wholesaler claimed it had been asked for £1,000 towards legal costs even though it had only bought about £1,200 of stock from Vitality. It had bought the stock in good faith and offered to return the half it still had, said a spokesman.
"We had no idea the goods were from the grey market," he said. "They have gone for the throat."
Seven Stars Cash & Carry in Ilkeston, has reluctantly written Unilever's lawyers a cheque for £1,000. "We tried to tell them that we bought the products in good faith but they made it clear that they would take the matter further," said buyer Walter Bradshaw.
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