posted on December 14, 2001 01:37:41 PM
Recently several of my customers contacted me to inform me that knockoffs of my Limited Editions were being auctioned off on Ebay. One of my customers had paid $80. a week earlier at a show for the limited edition, signed and numbered copyrighted print and she found the same image on a pillow being sold for $14. on Ebay.
I contacted ebay to close the auction as I am holder of the copyright. No Response for two days. I emailed several times each day. I gave up and contacted the seller advising her that she was selling a forgery. She tells me she is selling for another person. Ebay tells me to sign up for VERO. I do, send out the info to ebay via certified mail as requested. Still no action from Ebay. I continue to request the auction be closed and finally to prevent anyone from purchasing the forgery I was forced to "BUY IT NOW" in order to close the Auction.
The seller at least had the wisdom to refund my money and mail the item to me. It was not just one item but dozens that are being sold so now I have the problem of locating the manufacturer.
My big concern is that EBAY did not respond to protect my rights as a copyright holder. I deal with this on a regular basis and I have no problems with sellers doing a resell of my copyright items. But I do draw the line when someone makes money off my hard work without paying me.
Any one else successful in closing auctions with forgeries?
Greengate
posted on December 14, 2001 01:55:28 PM
What are your items specifically? What was mass produced?
It's odd that you have not had success with ebay. We continually read here how someone got kicked off for selling kate spade/gucci/etc items that the seller will swear is authentic, yet the auction item which you reported to ebay as a forgery, is allowed to continue.
posted on December 14, 2001 02:03:10 PM
I also started to post something along the lines of....
if someone has an authentic print of yours, they must have scanned it in order to put in on a pillow. That, in my opinion, takes a lot of work and thought, and therefore, they must realize they are violating your copyrights.
But then I got to thinking....
I collect a specific style of California Pottery. I have two china cabinets full. About a year ago, I bought some of those kits where one can make their own mouse pads. I took a close up picture of a collage of my more rarer pieces and placed the picture on a mousepad and sold it on ebay. I sold three at barely enough to break even. Then someone else did the exact same thing, only better, and started selling their mousepads. So I stopped.
Did I violate any copyrights? If so, it was unintentional. The pottery co that made the original item did not made a mousepad back in 1947, and the original company is no longer in business. They sold the design to another company who is making horrible versions of this same pottery in the same name.
posted on December 14, 2001 02:03:53 PM
I sell limited Edition fine art prints. The items being forged use those print images as part of the product. Pillows, mugs, tee shirts etc.
I was also surprized that Ebay did not respond as I expected as I have followed several of the posts on AW over the past two years.
posted on December 14, 2001 02:08:45 PM
Under US and International copyright law, these images belong to me, for my use on any product. I do sell the copyrights to honest individuals who need an image for their products. I also provide a written copyright release when someone wants to use the image to market my work.
It is difficult for me to buy the idea that anyone who manufactures a product for sale is not aware of the copyright laws. The little circle "c" has a lot of law and power behind it.
posted on December 14, 2001 02:09:12 PM
So, through some medium, i.e. paint, lithograph, photograph, you create an item which you then sign and sell. And someone is taking your item, scanning it, and putting the image on tshirts, cups etc? Do I understand it correctly?
posted on December 14, 2001 02:13:25 PM
Thats correct. I am a trained professional artist with a successful printing/publishing business and I act as an artists agent for other artists in my business.
The copyright indicia is on all art work created and is registered with the Library of congress with all fees paid.
posted on December 14, 2001 02:58:45 PM
Copyright law is only as powerful and effective as the copyright holder is.
Law enforcement usually will not even get involved unless there is a threshold amount of loss claimed.
For most this means pursuing a civil court action yourself. If you have the works registered, you may also be awarded attorney fees if you win your case.
If you filled out the VERO forms correctly and completely and ebay received them and still doesn't remove the auction you specifically alerted them to , then at some point ebay may become vicariously liable for the infringement.
However, this process is from the DMCA and is somewhat new law, so I haven't seen any case law yet regarding dilegence by ISP's for removing suspected infringing items. eBay just won a vicarious liability case where the rights holder did not fill out the form, but just notified ebay of infringement. Whether negligence by an ISP in removing material after proper statutory notice would trigger vicarious liability is something to look into.
You state in one post that you "sell" the copyrights to "honest" individuals. If you "sold" the copyright to someone else, you are no longer the owner or you are no longer the exclusive owner. I hope you instead granted some sort of limiting license to these other people instead of the "copyright". Once you sell the copyright or sell into a joint ownership, you may lose exclusive contorl over the material, and the other party could sell of give the rights to others. It would depend on the language of the conveyance of the rights. I hope you have a competent attorney handling the rights management of your product.
These are the VERO people, and I have always gotten a quick response from them (usually 48 hours).
I would also e-mail them the form you sent certified mail to [email protected]. Sometimes this gets them to act quicker. Also there is the fax number to FAX your Notice Of Infringment form. I don't have it handy but it should be in the VERO area of ebay.
I would say the best bet is to do ALL three ways to get their attention.
