Harley must let U.S. dealers sell to Canada – for now.
Last week, we told you a U.S.-based Harley-Davidson dealer was suing the manufacturer over third-party website and out-of-territory sales of parts and accessories. Harley-Davidson has a problem with this sort of thing – they don’t want dealers selling outside their designated turf, and they even sent a letter out warning of the consequences if dealers kept it up.
But a Harley-Davidson dealer in Minnesota wasn’t going to take the loss in revenue lying down. St. Paul Harley-Davidson said they made millions selling online and outside their territory, so they sued the big boys in Milwaukee.
They won themselves a bit of breathing space when U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz said Harley-Davidson couldn’t enforce their third-party website and out-of-territory website ban until February 29, 2012. The idea is that, hopefully, the dealers and the parent company can come to a peaceful agreement by then, without wasting a lot of time and money in court.
Nobody knows if this will actually work, but at least it works out for Canadian customers – you’ve got another three months to buy parts online from the U.S., if you want. Get clicking!
