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| Source: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/06-06/06-30-06/08local.htm |
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Date of Publication: June 30, 2006 on Page A03
City woman can resume anti-Damon sales on ebay
NEW BEDFORD — Perhaps Major League Baseball owners who have business with the hard-driving, hard-negotiating super agent Scott
Boras should hire New Bedford's Ann Sylvia as a consultant.
It took three weeks and lots of phone calls, but the 34-year-old mother of two worked out a compromise with Mr. Boras'
representatives that will allow her to resume selling "Damon Sucks" bibs, onesies and toddler T-shirts on ebay, after they
invoked the intellectual property rights to Mr. Damon's name and blocked the sales.
Intellectual property rights are the legal right an individual has to control the commercial use of his or her name.
The compromise ends a painful time for Ms. Sylvia, who was hurt first when the Red Sox' former center fielder signed
for $52 million with the so-called Evil Empire and then a second time when his representatives blocked the sale of the parody items.
Ms. Sylvia, who works part time at The Standard-Times, even started briefly to solicit donations for a legal defense fund to
make a First Amendment challenge to Mr. Boras' actions. "I'm happy because I feel my ebay account isn't in jeopardy," she
said yesterday, although she said she regrets it took as long as it did to reach a settlement.
Ms. Sylvia said she hopes to have the items up for sale today on ebay, a popular shopping Web site.
Catherine England, a spokeswoman for ebay, confirmed yesterday that Ms. Sylvia will be allowed to relist her items on ebay.
"My understanding is that there was a compromise," she said. "They came to an agreement."
Under the terms of the compromise, Ms. Sylvia said she will delete the specific references in her description of the merchandise that
identifies the products as being critical of Johnny Damon.
She said the merchandise will just say "Damon Sucks," but will not identify the person as Johnny Damon, as she previously did.
From the beginning, it was the product description that was the issue with Ryan Lubner, an attorney for Scott Boras Corp., Newport Beach,
Calif., Mr. Damon's agents.
"The lawyer has agreed that the item itself does not infringe. He believes the way I describe it infringes," she said before the settlement.
Ms. Sylvia feared her at-home business, which she started in 2001 and specializes in the sale of baby clothing and household decorations/accessories on ebay, would be jeopardized because of the infringement complaint.
She could always sell the items on her own Web site, but she prefers ebay because of its popularity with online consumers.
She said Mr. Lubner filed an infringement claim June 9, right after she started selling the items on ebay.
The sale of the Damon items on ebay had been halted since the claim was filed.
Representatives of the Boras Corp. did not respond to requests for comment. Three phone calls and a FAX sent to Mr. Lubner were not returned. A written request through the New York Yankees to interview Mr. Damon about the actions of his agents also was not successful.
Contact Curt Brown at cbrown@s-t.com
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