Academic Activity Model of Court Hearing Session
Plaintiff Role
Good morning, my name is Nicholas Youseff and I was born in La Crescenta, California. Currently, I work as a franchisee of Armani in Kuwait. I received my license in 2000 to sell and distribute Armani in Kuwait, something that I have been doing for the last 15 years. It is a renewable license. As an official franchisee of Armani, it is my job to ensure that the brand is protected. In part this means that I'm responsible for making sure that all clothes which are sold in Kuwait and which bear the official Armani logo, are in fact authentic. If there are counterfeit brands of Armani wafting around the area where I am an official seller, it becomes problematic for me, and it also undermines the integrity of the entire Armani brand. In the last two years, I found repeated incidences of clothes in Kuwait which bore the Armani trademark, but which were not in fact authentic Armani clothes. I have thus filed suit against the sellers of these items. This is my responsibility as a franchisee: it is my responsibility to the brand and it is something which I absolutely have to do in order to ensure that the products I sell continue to sell. Armani is an unparalleled luxury brand and it is my job to protect it. Cheap products which resemble the elite Armani brand undermine our sales and demean the Armani name. Allowing counterfeits to be available on the market is incredibly harmful to my business as a whole. It is absolutely vital to trade and free enterprise that we adequately regulate such entities which are harmful to business.
Defendant Role
Hello, my name is James MacEvoy. I sell Armani goods in Kuwait and I have for the last three years. I was not aware that they were counterfeit. The seller that I purchased them from assured me that they were in fact authentic. I asked this seller multiple times,...
This company representative showed me authentic papers and indicated that there were no signs of counterfeiting. In fact, this representative showed me a franchising license. The company representative even showed me details in the stitching and in the Armani logo which indicated that they were authentic. This was all very compelling, and I thought I was doing business with legitimate individuals. In case these items are counterfeited, I don't know what counterfeited items look like. I engaged in my own due diligence as a merchant. I took strong pains to ensure that these items were legitimate. In fact that company representative that I spoke to also told me that they were overstock items from the Armani collection which was why they were able to sell them to me at such a discounted price.
Plaintiff Lawyer
Hello, my names is Mark Taperoff, I represent Nicholas Youseff and will be representing him today. At this time, in the Middle East, or in the region defined as the 22 member state of the Arab League, there are no specific "franchise laws." In most areas of the Middle East, the legal systems are founded around civil law for specific franchising legislation, with laws applicable to franchising taken from the group of laws which already exist. These other laws are largely trademark laws, contract laws and the civil code. As a result of the lack of specific franchise legislation, the franchise agreement is the primal document which governs the rights of all involved parties. Thus, as a result of these existing laws, if someone is going to engage in commercial activity, they really should be a commercial agent who is registered with the ministry of economy and commerce and who is specialized in engaging in commercial agency activities. Furthermore, Armani…
