I recently listed an item on Yahoo for the first time, and another user stole text from my auction and all the photos. I know that they were mine, since I use a Digimarc digital watermark on all of them.
I first emailed the person who listed it, and gave them 24 hours to remove the photos, but of course they never did and never responded.
I then, emailed and faxed a signed notice of infringement to [email protected] and [email protected] but haven't received a response for 3 days. The first stolen auction has already ended.
I also noticed yet another auction using a photo from one of my eBay auctions. I did the same thing, but still haven't received a response.
My question is, does Yahoo have any sort of VeRO program like eBay? or is there a better way for me to get these stolen photos removed from the auction?
I guess my last option is suing yahoo since they were hosting the images themselves, but that could be expensive and very time consuming. Not to mention that they probably have a staff of flesh eating lawyers.
posted on September 23, 2000 08:32:41 AM new
While I haven't had to deal with this issue myself I've read a number of threads about this topic and will share what I recall.
The Seller Zone is a club on YAHOO where chats between users take place, much like this board.
Experienced users there should be able to help with suggestions of specific email addresses and/or persons at YAHOO to contact.
There are also phone numbers you can call to discuss problems with someone who you can then maintain contact with until the situation is resolved.
A group of long time sellers have also formed The Posse which police the site and use the Neighborhood Watch feature to report violations to YAHOO. Several NW reports automatically bring the matter to YAHOO's attention and they require the lister to respond with corrective action or cancel their listings/registration.
I would go to TSZ and repeat your post. Threads elsewhere on this board discuss that Club, how to get there and the URL for the site.
That someone steals your work and then uses it to sell in competation against you has always seemed a double affront worthy of serious reaction. I hope you have good luck in getting it settled quickly.
posted on September 23, 2000 09:40:19 AM new
Suing yahoo is not an option since you gave up that right for the most part when you agreed to there TOS to sell.
They do have rules and warnings to sellers about post false or illegal items and misrepresenting them.
but there tos also state that they make no garentees and you will not hold them for any lose of sales or money
if you dig deeper into yahoo policy you will find any photos and things you up load to yahoo you give up many of your rights to these.
when they took over geocitites yahoo change policy there to what the policy is on yahoo and it created a big stir cause basically it said once you up load files you are giveing yahoo all rights to them .
they changed geocities rules back to near what they were but policy on yahoo remains the same.
yahoo services are yours to use for free but any file graphic programing routine script or the like you up load to there server computer you gives them a right and claim to it.
best thing you could do for this is to add your name and or web address to each photo if anyone uses these photos its free advertizeing for you and up to yahoo to handle it as they see fit.
since useing someone elses photo and listing for your item is at best misreprsentation the auction will more then likely be shut down.
neighborhood watch and posses are only temporary solutions item shut down by this will be back in a day or a week. but remember if a seller is shut down totally by yahoo now that you can only have one account ever if they dont delete the personal info you wont be able to register to sell or buy again.
posted on September 23, 2000 11:51:43 AM new
Here are the copyright rules I found:
Yahoo respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide Yahoo's Copyright Agent the following information:
an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;
a description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed;
a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the site;
your address, telephone number, and email address;
a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your Notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.
Yahoo's Copyright Agent for Notice of claims of copyright infringement on its site is Anthony P. Coll who can be reached as follows: By mail:
Anthony P. Coll
Copyright Agent
c/o Yahoo! Inc.
3400 Central Expressway
Santa Clara, CA 95051
By phone: (408) 530-5080
By email: [email protected]
posted on September 23, 2000 02:09:47 PM new
yup this yahoo's TOS says as well but graphics uploaded and sent to yahoo frist dont have a copyright.
minium proof of copyright to hold up by law would be like this.
picture with this on it frist
Copyright 2000 Dman-N-Company
make a hard copy of it put it in a evenvelope and mail it to your self dont open the envelope when you get it back the cancelation stamp is proof of the date of copyright.
then again if this is a photo of a item where names and logos have copywrites on them this may not hold up either but this would make a minimal case for proof of copyrights then upload the graphic to yahoo thing is proof of copyright and being the rightfull owner of the graphic must exist before its made public.
never show your inventions or goods before you have the copyright or pattens on them after it will be very hard and costly to prove
I know this sounds like a lot of work for auction pictures and listing but if its going to upset you if people do this and you dont want to add your name or auction URL at the bottom of each its the cheapest easiest minimal way to have proof.
WWW.dman-n-company.com
[ edited by dman3 on Sep 23, 2000 02:14 PM ]
posted on September 23, 2000 03:56:08 PM new
Thanks for all the responses.
Just to clarify, I never uploaded my photos to yahoo's servers, I was hosting it from my own web server and domain. I put an image tag in my HTML that displays the photos on the auction. The user saved the photo himself, then uploaded them to yahoo.
Overall, I think I will probably stop selling items with my own photo and just steal one from another web site, that way, I'll avoid being so bothered by it. It looks like the auction sites don't really care, unless someone puts up a big fuss about it anyway. Though often times, I have been able to produce better looking photos of the item than anything I've seen elsewhere.
.