eBay Impertinence (well, only close to)
#1

Just got a notice from a friend that one of my pictures is used for auctioning a 42S, eBay item no. 140678333792. At least, the seller should have stated in the auction text that the picture does not show the actual item, or even ask me.

It's not the first time that this happens to me (thanks to Google image search), I guess I shouldn't fuss and be proud instead ;-)

Juergen (alias jkxyz on eBay)

#2

Have you contacted the seller? Not only is he using your picture, perhaps infringing on your copyright, but more importantly to the calculator community is he misrepresenting a possibly cosmetically flawed item. You really should ask him to take down your pic and post an actual picture of the item in question.
Also, the seller has lifted the description of the HP-42S on this museum without mentioning any source. Sigh.


Edited: 12 Jan 2012, 6:00 p.m.

#3

The seller says "Feel free to ask more pictures or questions !" so I did, let's see what response I will have, perhaps more of your pictures ;)

Cheers - Kerem

#4

TAS is very good about taking down copyright material (infringing items). If you created the original photo, that is good enough, you are the copyright owner.

The information is all here:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/vero-rights-owner.html#report

Just fill out the form in -step 1- and send it to them. They say FAX, however there is also an email address below in the eBay's registered agent hot link: copyright@ebay.com

On notice (you sending the form to TAS), they act pretty quickly, within a day or two by ending the auction and notifying the seller of the infringing items (as listed in your "take-down" notice).

The seller might complain that you had no copyright claim to the photo at your website or on the picture. Such words are not needed. If you created the work (e.g. a photo), you own the rights to the photo, unless you have assigned the rights to others (e.g. sold or licensed rights to another).

#5

Yes, I asked the seller, and he can provide pictures of the actual item on request. He told me that in his opinion the eBay fees for additional pictures are too high.

I don't know what the regulations are for text. I guess it's not too different from pictures. Again, when copying text from the Internet, the minimum you can do is provide a reference to the source.

#6

There was a time when eBay didn't care about it at all. This seems to have changed. Thank you for the link, I will consider this procedure when the same will happen again in the future.

Honestly, I also have to mention that the opposite happened to me: there was a guy asking me to use parts of an auction text from one of my closed auctions. The awareness of copyright is quite different among people.

Edited: 13 Jan 2012, 2:33 a.m.

#7

My experience with TAS is that they are VERY fast at removing copyrighted content, unfortunately, that speed does not include your own personal photos, unless they have a team of lawyers behind them.

About 2 years ago, a seller had bought a custom made item from me, then turned around and relisted it. Not only did they use my photos, but photos I had of other listed items that were obviously not what they were even selling. They ignored my emails, so I complained to TAS. After a week, I complained again. It was at least two weeks before the auction came down. Then of all things, I get a nasty email from the seller that believed they were doing ME a favor by "promoting" my items by using my photos.

There are all kinds...

Dave

#8

Sometimes it also can be very funny: once a seller directly linked pictures on my web server in his auction text. I then replaced the pictures with Donad Duck images (or something similar, I don't remember exactly) :-)

#9

That's very thoughtful of them. Not only are they using your photos, they're expecting you to host them too.

I run a hiking website and there are several places where my photos have been directly linked like that. I haven't purposely changed them yet, but it does give you a bit of power.

Dave

#10

Any email or other communication to TAS about copyright infringement, -without- the Exact required bullet points, is considered "ineffective" notice and can be ignored. That's why nearly every service provider today uses nearly identical notice forms (Google, TAS, etc).

Bottom line: Most companies have converted the legalese to a somewhat standard, mostly readable form for non-lawyers. If you send them the exact form that they provided (with all of the items filled in), US companies are required to take some action.

This might be going to far off topic. Google(tm) 17 U.S.C. ยง 512 (c)(3)(A) to see the list of required items and/or DMCA for more info. If you follow the form exactly, you should have good results.



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