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Directed Electronics Hall Of Shame Members Added October 22, 2008

"Many auctions are removed because they may be counterfeit."

Notice the wording. The auctions are terminated because they may be counterfeit, not because they really are. They have their Cyber Cops, Net Enforcers, terminate auctions that are resales of genuine product alleging that the items violate their patents. Their eBay About Me page states under Patent Infringement, "The sale of our products by anyone other than authorized licensed dealers... ...constitutes patent infringement" without stating how. We ask this question because the resale of a genuine product cannot be patent infringement. It is not possible. Under Copyright Infringement on their eBay About Me page, Directed Electronics claims

"copyrights to all of the technical data, photos, graphics, software, product literature, catalogues, product specifications, installation guides, user guides, promotional material and other types of information used in association with its products and/or posted on its websites."

Directed Electronics does have twenty copyrights registered with th US Copyright Office but the mere act of obtaining a copyright does not mean the copyright is actually valid or enforceable. For example, "technical data" and "product specifications" (mentioned above) are not copyrightable. Purely textual material cannot be copyrighted. Ets-Hokin v. Skyy Spirits, Inc., 225 F.3d 1068 (9th Cir. 2000). For that matter, it is our considered opinion (not supported by case law but also not refuted by case law) that the use of stock photos of a company's product (pictures taken by the manufacturer) are fair use when one is selling the genuine product. Therefore, the statements by Directed Electronics under Copyright Infringement constitiute lies. Under Trademark Infringment on their eBay About Me page, Directed Electronics claims

"Any unlicensed use of any of these marks is a violation of our exclusive rights"

Another lie. The "unauthorized use" of a company's trademarks to deceive the public as to the source or manufacturer of a product is illegal. However, there is absolutely no provision in trademark law that allows that the "unlicensed use" of a trademark is infringing. Another lie by Directed Electronics. Under False Warranty Offer we think they missate their product liability. Warranties are often state-controlled and the terms stated by Directed Electronics appear to be in violation of what states dictate. We feel that regardless of seller, a manufacturer of a product has an obligation to honor any warranty issued with that product. If the product is new and never been used, the only reasons we can think of for a company to refuse to honor their warranty is the either they want to control the secondary market or they are unsure of the reliabilty and quality of their product. There is no law prohibiting a company from lying about it's intellectual property rights. Lawyers do it all the time. Politicians do it all the time. So why not low-life corporations? Either Directed Electronics wants to believe what they say or they are just stupid. We thing they hired some bottom-feeder corporate lawyers to write their About Me page to fit what Directed Electronics wants, not necessarily what the law says. Welcome to Tabberone's Trademark and Coptright Abusers' Hall of Shame to Directed Electronics.