posted on January 25, 2001 11:06:18 AM
I am finalizing a brand new information product I have spent many hours putting together. If I read my market right, it will be fairly popular, and I expect that "me-toos" will want to hop onto that popularity bandwagon. Therefore I want to protect it by registering as a VeRO. However, looking at Ebay, it appears to me that I have to find somebody violating my ownership/copyright rights before I can register as a VeRO? Is that right? Or am I missing something. Because I would rather register it first so that it is established that I am the owner in case of any discrepancies. Any assistance here appreciated.
posted on January 25, 2001 11:16:18 AM
No, you don't need to find someone selling your product first. You don't register the product with eBay. I recommend distributing your guide in a compiled format, for example Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) or WinHelp (.hlp). This makes it harder for copyright thieves to simply remove your copyright and resell your product. I'm using Microsoft's new (free) HTML Help for my next project. It's really cool, you can add hyperlinks, activex goodies, and it includes its own search/find utility, bookmarks, annotations, etc. Much better than plain text or .doc files, and much safer for you. You can download HTML Help just about anywhere, just use your favorite search engine to find it.
posted on January 25, 2001 11:44:00 AM
Register FIRST, sell later. And make sure you do a for real copyright registration with the US copyright office before you start selling, and include the symbol PROMINENTLY on the stuff.
To be honest, there are NO safe digital text formats, because the sleazebags can always just reproduce the file.
WinHelp can be reverse engineered into RTF files.
Text in PDF's can be selected, copied, and pasted (there might be a password protection that disables the select)
PDF files can be printed, scanned, and then the scans compiled into fresh PDFs ... with your (C) whited out. I don't think you can disable the print function.
posted on January 25, 2001 05:55:04 PM
I understand how to register a copyright for additional protection. I have had work published by MacMillan so I understand copyright.
I also understand that there is no IP that is safe from being copied if someone is determined to do so.
What I am trying to avoid is a situation like another copyright holder on this board who has recently posted that they sold a product to someone else who is now selling it on Ebay, the original copyright holder is also selling it on Ebay, and the second person filed a VeRO against the original copyright holder (who is the real VeRO), and Ebay appears not to understand that.
I wanted to register my VeRO of my product with Ebay so if anybody does rip it off and tries to sell it on Ebay, the same thing doesn't happen to me. But it appears to me that you can only register with Ebay as VeRO -after- somebody rips it off, and that is the information I am trying to ascertain.
Edited to correct a typo.
[ edited by goodvibrations on Jan 25, 2001 06:00 PM ]
posted on January 26, 2001 01:07:35 AM
Perhaps you can do it simulataneously with the first listing.
I see no obstacle to declaring yourself the VERO ahead of time ... it is easier if you have a registered trademark or a real publishing company with a press name and logo.
posted on January 26, 2001 06:53:02 AM
Abacaxi...the only place I can find information about registering as VeRO says "it's easy to register as VeRO, just report an infringing item!". This is what leads me to believe somebody has to steal something before you can register, and if declare themselves veRO first, you are out of luck, even if you own the copyright! I wrote to Ebay to get clarification but don't expect to get it, really. we'll see.
posted on January 26, 2001 08:25:12 AM
As I recall- you report your first infringement at the same time you apply to be a VeRo member. I don't know of any other way of doing it.
