“Therefore we can guarantee that MonaVie’s compensation plan is both legal and a true financial opportunity for our German distribution partners”. This was the main statement from an announcement of “MonaVie LLC“, with which the US company responded to a blog post by the well-known “Industry Attorney” Stephan R. Schulenberg on Thursday that had been causing quite some turbulence in MLM circles and among MonaVie distributors since Tuesday. The events that will surely still keep the industry, its associations and media busy over the coming weeks allow from the OBTAINER’s perspective already for one conclusion today: “Never complain“ – this smart advice by network legend Jim Rohn is just as true today as it has always been!

In the fourth week of August, the MonaVie distribution partners were able to experience how close the “Ups“ and “Downs“ can be in Network Marketing: On the same day the OBTAINER WORLDWIDE published its cover story “The summer of MonaVie“ and thus put quite a grist to the sales mills of the Utah-based company, the industry-known Hamburg-based law firm “Schulenberg und Schenk“ blogged on their website mlmrecht.de: “With a ruling effective August 24th, 20010 (reference number: 3-12 O 98/10) the  Frankfurt am Main district court prohibits basic elements of the compensation plan of MonaVie LLC“. Further, the Hamburg lawyers announced: “According to this, elements of the plan offend the prohibition of progressive customer acquisition within the meaning of § 16 section 2 UWG. Thus, the complaint made by our law firm for our client was fully complied with”. Who this “client” was, the law firm did not reveal but claimed in their post that the same ruling had already been made against two Mona-Vie partners by the Frankfurt am Main district court dated August 13th.

Obviously to irritate the network company consultants in general and those of MonaVie in particular, the Hamburg lawyers, who in the past achieved a sad fame in the network marketing scene due to their practice of issuing warnings, also included the following claim: With that it was a fact that “not only the organizing business can be an acting person within the meaning of the law but every distribution partner who acquires new distribution partners or promotes it”. In this context, the author of the blog also found it worth mentioning that § 16 section 2 UWG was not only a competition law that dealt with injunction and compensation claims but also a penal provision that sanctioned violations with prison sentences up to two years.

For some – especially newly acquired – MonaVie partners this surely was a nasty shock. Fortunately, the German common parlance offers sufficient support to deal with these kinds of situations. Among them are “not to throw the baby out with the bathwater” just as much as saying “nothing is as bad as it looks”. And thus it did not take very long until the first responses from the official side arrived. Already on Wednesday, Stephen Jones, MonaVie’s Marketing & Communications Manager, told the OBTAINER editorial team: “At no time was MonaVie informed nor was the company asked to a court hearing relating to our compensation plan in Germany. To date, our compensation plan has neither been disputed nor was the company ever forced to contact a court as a result of such insinuations“.

According to Stephen Jones, the company “MonaVie LLC“ has no knowledge that any distribution partners in Germany currently have to answer in court. “From my experience, our distribution partners communicate openly with the company to inform us about possible problems so that we can quickly counteract any occurring difficulties. I have serious doubts that one of our distribution partners has ever been involved in a trial and did NOT tell us about it”, Jones says with confidence. “When MonaVie opens a new market, the company invests a great deal of energy and lots of time and works together closely with the regional legal representatives to ensure that the business operations of MonaVie correspond with the provisions of law”. Furthermore, the compensation plan of MonaVie was currently used in more than 16 countries worldwide without any legal concerns having ever been voiced.

Thus, it did not come as a surprise that just shortly after MonaVie addressed the media and especially and primarily its distribution partners with an open letter titled “MonaVie Germany: Substantiated distribution plan”. In this letter it says word for word: “We are committed to the German market, and we are pleased with the tremendous growth this market has seen since the inception of business in May 2010. This past week you might have heard some rumours and insinuations claiming that elements of the compensation plan do not comply with the governing law and that an injunction against two MonaVie distribution partners was sought from the Frankfurt district court. MonaVie has not been informed by the officials neither about the court hearing nor have our distribution partners informed MonaVie’s management. MonaVie has all the reason to assume that these unfounded rumours and unsubstantiated orders are the counterstrike of a ruthless competitor of whom we assume that it has the intention to invade MonaVie’s market segments”.

MonaVie also announced: ”We are going to vigorously defend our position and our distribution partners. We assure you as a distribution partner of MonaVie that our compensation plan has been designed with care, and that it has been reviewed by a prestigious internationally operating law firm based in Germany. This law firm has substantial experience in network marketing and in competitive law. Therefore we can guarantee you that MonaVie’s compensation plan is both legal and also a true financial opportunity for our German distribution partners”. And with that the circle closes for now. Of course we are going to keep you, dear readers, up to date on the further development of this story. Stay strong!

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