To: WSO Board of Trustees and ACA Fellowship worldwide
From: Bill D., General Manager
Date: 11/25/2024
Re: Update on Counterfeit BRB lawsuit
Thanks to the swift action by the WSO staff, the counterfeit Big Red Books (BRBs) were successfully removed from Amazon and many other major online sales platforms worldwide that we could find. If you come across any of these counterfeit books, please let us know by contacting the World Services office by calling 310-534-1815 or emailing [email protected]. You can identify them by having text printed on their back cover or by having the ISBN numbers that do not match one of ours - 9780978979706 or 978978979782.
The WSO staff took immediate steps, including filing a lawsuit, which helped us intervene before any proceeds were paid out to the counterfeiters for sales made on Amazon and other platforms associated with the international distributor, Ingram Spark. As a result, we were able to prevent further damage. We estimate we lost about $25,000 in revenues due to the counterfeit products being sold globally.
WSO received a settlement of $9,037 from the international distributor. This amount includes their income for their role in facilitating the counterfeit sales as well as the proceeds that had been set aside for the counterfeiters but were withheld due to our intervention. The balance of the revenue was spent on printing and distributing the books.
Unfortunately, we have not yet identified the counterfeiters, as they used false names and untraceable emails during their contract negotiations with the printer/distributor. However, we have asked our attorney to proceed with subpoenas to PayPal and the email provider in an effort to uncover the identities of those involved. These actions are currently underway; we are committed to holding those responsible for this attack on Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional families and doing everything we can to ensure that they are prevented from causing further harm to our ACA fellowship and the World Service Organization.