Press release from Laysons (FBI action at Carlisle 2008)
First, for those of you not in the Mopar hobby, sorry you have bad choice in cars (just kidding) There was quite an incident at Chryslers at Carlisle 2008. The FBI siezed inventory and shut down the vendor in front of everyone during the middle of the event.

Here is a statement from Laysons regarding the action:

http://www.youtube.com/gimeaV8

Now the update:

I have cut and pasted a Press release from Laysons regarding this action and the current state of the issue. I have tried to follow this and was curious as to how this would finally be resolved. This affects not only Chrysler fans and Laysons V/S Chrysler but the entire car hobby as well. Replacement parts, originality, imports, counterfeits, and licensed parts from all manufacturers will be affected by this action.

Here is the E-Mail as I received it:




Layson's Restorations Exonerated
Charges dropped with prejudice in Pennsylvania


(Lakewood-WA) Layson's Restorations is pleased to announce the end of a
patent and
trademark investigation in the state of Pennsylvania. This follows the
FBI's move to drop
its case last fall. It is the end of a lengthy legal battle that began at
the Chryslers
at Carlisle event in July of 2008.

Layson's can again focus entirely on doing what it does best: Serving
our customers and
helping them bring their Mopar dreams to life. We would like to express
our deepest
appreciation to our customers, vendors, business partners and even
competitors who
encouraged us and provided the moral support to see us through this
difficult time.

We want to extend a special thanks to Robert Wolff of Mopar Collectors
Guide and Phil
Painter, both of whom made the effort to see through the issues and
into the truth of
the matter. We will always be grateful.

Going forward, we hope these developments when combined with a turnaround
in the economy
will allow us to recall some of the loyal employees we were forced to lay
off and
continue our quest to make more parts and improve our processes to better
serve our
customers who, along with our love of classic cars, motivate us to be the
best we can be
every day.

Now that we can again turn our attention to the hobby we love, look for an
improved
website, more product releases and our continued support of our loyal
customer base at
the major Mopar shows around the country.

In the end, we hope that the legal issues surrounding the manufacture and
sale of legal
reproduction parts have been resolved once and for all, for the good of
the hobby, and
those of us investing and working to restore valuable pieces of American
automotive
history.

We will have a video statement up on our www.youtube.com/gimeaV8 site in
the near future,
but until then, we're just thankful this chapter in our company's
history is over and
that our customers will continue to have access to high quality and
affordable
reproduction parts for their restoration projects.




You are receiving this email because you have purchased from us before.
As a prior customer we believe that you have a desire to learn about sales
for your car parts. If you would rather not be advised of sales through
email, reply to this email with the word REMOVE in the subject line and we
will remove you from our email listing.

 

That's cool. Glad they got it resolved.

 

interesting

 

i heard of that
good news

 

I got the same email. I have bought items from them in the past and I noticed that they disappeared. I am not sure what the exact issue was, but I understand it has to do with making repro parts. What I bought from them, I was very satisfied with. I say the more suppliers out there the better, and the more likely the price will be lower.

YAY for Layson's!!!

 

As I understand it, in an effort to manufacture the highest quality restoration parts, as accurately as possible, Chrysler accused them of either counterfeiting parts or not paying royalties on parts that Layson's had no obligation to pay.

This is tough because here we are as a consumer needing these parts and Ma' Mopar is not allowing the aftermarket to make and supply the parts we are requesting at either a reasonable rate or at all.

 

GLAD TO HEAR THATS CLEARED UP

 

Good deal! I have meet the Layson's crew at the mopar nationals and they all were very helpful. I looked at their parts and was impressed at the quality. BTW, they bring alot of merchandise to the shows. I particularly liked the early A-body patch panels. Not too many people make parts for these cars but layson's does.