Reading Between the Lines

What’s legal and what’s not in reselling?

5. You place orders with a supplier who goes around you and accepts direct orders from "your" customer. The U.C.C. comes to the rescue. Your supplier cannot circumvent a commercial relationship to obtain an advantage at your expense. And this is enforceable without a written contract because you are a "merchant" in our "trade," and the supplier is a "trade" sub-contractor with an obligation to respect—not take advantage of—your "trade secret." Not only are actual damages in order, but probably consequential (lost profits) and even punitive (wrongdoing) damages.

(To learn more about this topic, pick up the book: The Law v. Print. It may be ordered at www.pbba.org.)

By Vincent Mallardi, C.M.C.

Vincent Mallardi, C.M.C., is the founder and former chairman of the Printing Brokerage/Buyers Association International (www.pbba.org), a global membership network of print intermediaries and their trade-only and specialty suppliers. He is an adjunct professor in economics and a consummate life-long printing salesman. He has testified in printing-related cases for more than 35 years at the federal, state and county levels.

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