posted on September 21, 2000 09:07:54 AM
Hello! I know this has been covered here before, but I want to be sure I have everything straight.
The seller has a buyer, who has purchased quite a few things from her in the past. This buyer's main id is quickly failing and the buyer just so happened to email this seller from a different email address one day regarding her order. So now the seller knows that the buyer has another id on ebay (the different address is a registered user also).
The seller happens to be running searches one day and lo and behold this other user id of the person is listing auctions. One of the auctions is an item that the seller has currently up for auction also. When looking at the description, the seller notices that this person has stolen their picture! Very easily identified because of background, arrangement, etc. In checking the properties on the picture, the person did not link directly from the true sellers server but the picture is stolen.
The true seller emails ebay at time sensitive 2 days ago with no response. The true seller then emails seller and advises that the jig is up and remove the picture, break out the camera and take your own, and sends a link to the copyright violation page. No response from the user and the picture is still there. The true seller has also emailed the person and told the person to never bid on their auctions again under any user id - and did cc safeharbor.
Is there anything else that can be done at this point?
posted on September 21, 2000 09:15:13 AM
If you want to go the VERO route, you can. In eBay's VERO section there is a form you fill out, sign, and fax back to eBay, certifying that you are the intellectual property owner of the pic. eBay ends these auctions very quickly (and as we've seen, sometimes not fairly) as their response to DMCA requirements. The other part has appeal rights, but they are rarely used.
Most folks will probably tell you to just forget it and move on. But it's hard not to take it personally, I know.
posted on September 21, 2000 09:24:42 AM
Thank you Magazine Guy! It would not be quite so bad except for the fact that this item is a handmade one, it is not a factory manufactured piece, the true seller created this item themselves and it cannot be purchased in any store. The thieving user did not purchase this item from the true seller, but obviously they are going to copy it.
posted on September 21, 2000 09:45:56 AM
Well, within the last 5 minutes, the picture has been removed - now the thieving seller has no picture on their auction - but believe me a close eye will be kept on this users auctions!
