posted on February 22, 2001 06:19:08 AM
twinsoft ... "eBay has made it clear that you can reinstate your account by sending proofs that you claim to possess."
In fact they didn't ... read the last sentence from their email to me.
I tried one more time with these guys when they told me that even if I did provide the proof, they would not reinstate me (Emmett did respond with a negative again and didn't even mention my request for an apology). I think this shows the problem with eBay. They are totally confused with their own policy and they are living in some kind of power fantasy land. Is there anyone here that is having a hard time understanding why I feel grieved by eBay, and does anyone care to guess what the response will be? I have honestly and respectfully tried to figure these guys out, but I am lost.
Here's what I wrote:
Thanks, I understand.
Now, if you could just answer one more question for me, I will leave you alone.
To recap:
You ended my auction for the Columbia House original tapes for the television series "V" citing a potential copyright infringement.
I contacted Columbia House to get a ruling.
Columbia House emailed me indicating that the sales of their tapes on eBay was illegal. I copied that to you and apologized for taking offence about you canceling my auction. I further suggested that you contact the writer of that email for a clarification. I am not sure if you did that, but if you did and if it turned out that these tapes CAN be resold, you owe me an apology and reinstatement. If it turns out that these tapes CANNOT be resold, read on ...
You have reminded me in many of your emails that I admitted that the sales of CH products were a violation of their copyright. ("By your own prior admission previously, you stated, "It appears from what Columbia House states, that sales of ALL Columbia House tapes on eBay are in violation of their copyright." )
Since then, I have reported numerous listings on eBay for similiar Columbia House tapes, citing their email ruling and your ending of my auction for listing similiar items, yet you have done nothing to end those auctions.
Here is my question:
"If you ended my Columbia House tapes auction and suspended my account citing potential copyright infringment, why are you not taking the same action with other eBay members for doing exactly the same thing?"
You cannot claim that you are unable to police your venue as I have helped you by reporting these auction numbers and details directly to SafeHarbour.
The problem that I, and many other people are having is trying to understand why your policies are not consistently enforced across your entire membership list. I am sure you can see why I am am struggling with this, and I would appreciate an answer.
posted on February 22, 2001 10:30:10 AM
RB, you're not being completely honest. In your case, it was more than copyright infringement. You were inviting bidders in your ads to purchase from you directly. You continued to do that even after eBay warned you against it.
I realize you feel a need to vindicate yourself of this copyright thing, but for your own sake, I suggest you get over it and get on with your life. Trying this case over and over again in the court of public opinion is not going to make you feel better.
You're no longer buying or selling through eBay. Why the need to report infringing items? We all know SafeHarbor makes mistakes. If it bothers you so much, contact the content owners. If they don't care, why should you?
I had eBay end several of my auctions last week. Apparently some competitor or disgruntled customer got a bee in their bonnet. eBay reinstated most of the auctions (without an apology), but one item was banned. It was a series of ebooks distributed under the GNU Public License. The GPL clearly allows anyone to redistribute the material. But eBay's policy is "no CD-R" software. So the programs are LEGAL, but still against eBay policy. What are you going to do? Life ain't fair.
posted on February 22, 2001 10:51:26 AM
twinsoft ...
You need to get your facts right! Hope you are being a little more factual in your current court case or you may end up losing the farm
We are talking about two different issues here. The issue about me advertising was simply a warning from eBay that I couldn't do that. All I did was include my email address with a statement that lookers could contact me if they were looking for other tv stuff. At the time (and still to this date), I could not see any difference between that and those thousands of listings (mostly their Power Sellers, it seems) that include a link to the seller's web site in their listings. Just so happens I don't have a web site!
I relisted without that reference to me (!), and that's when the shite hit the fan ...
"You're no longer buying or selling through eBay. Why the need to report infringing items? We all know SafeHarbor makes mistakes."
Because I am going to get great pleasure knowing that my little vendetta may have had something to do with eBay's downfall. It's coming ...
The real reason though? People who buy the junk copies on eBay are, for the most part, under the impression that the stuff they are buying is real. After all, eBay has rules against bootlegs and the assumption is that they enforce their rules. We know they don't, and innocent buyers are getting ripped off left and right. I believe there are a couple of threads going on right now that were started by angry buyers who got "unwatchable" copies of videos when they thought they were getting originals.
Just because eBay looks the other way doesn't mean I am going to give up ...
To err is human, but why must SafeHarbour be SO human ...
