Ed Hardy is self-described as "The Godfather of Tattoos". Ed Hardy is a talented artist whose ego appears to be so inflated that he now walks on water. Christian Audigier, another self-made egotist, owns Nervous Tattoo which sells a lot of Ed Hardy schlock along with a lot of other over-priced schlock. If their stuff is so great, then why do we see it being sold at "dollar stores" and in grocery stores? Please Ed, inquiring minds want to know.

It seems that Ed Hardy and friends object to Ed Hardy merchandise being sold on eBay, and perhaps anywhere else, except through their over-priced outlets (do you detect an bit of an attitude on our part?). We were first contacted by "Dude", February, 2008. Seems Ed Hardy had instructed eBay to terminate some of his auctions where he was offering Ed Hardy for sale. We say "offering" because he really didn't have the merchandise in hand. He saw it being offered for sale on OverStock.com and figured he could sell it on eBay for more so his scheme was hatched. American entrepreneurship at work. He would sell the item on eBay and then buy it for less on OverStock.com. Great idea if it works. But enter The Ed Hardy Boys. They terminated the auctions for "violating their intellectual property rights". That's all. What violation? Selling authentic merchandise that was obtained through lawful channels is not trademark infringement so what are they claiming?

On November 17, 2008, we did a search at OverStock.com for Ed Hardy merchandise. We found 331 items for sale. That same day we found 17,207 items on eBay. 17,207 items for sale on eBay for Ed Hardy merchandise! Now according to a press release by Ed Hardly Ever and his minion, Chris Awful, "the company takes counterfeiting most seriously", and they should, really.

If the Ed Hardy Boys, them California whack-jobs we mentioned, are going to terminate eBay auctions for "violating their intellectual property rights", shouldn't at least take the time to respond to emails to them inquiring as to why the auctions were infringing? Especially when the sellers are stating that the allegedly infringing items are authentic? Look at the auction listing provided by "Donna". She not only says it's authentic but has three large pictures to go with it! Come on, boys. Tell us how this item "violates your intellectual property rights". These are clear and informative pictures of authentic Ed Hardy merchandise. So what does that make Ed hardy and Christian Audigier? Big, fat, ugly liars.

Then, as reported by InfoWorld in June 2007, "Are Unfair Takedowns Becoming EBay's Trademark?", a woman who bought her Ed Hardy schlock from the base PX (that's the Post Exchange for military personnel and their dependents), even with a letter from the government saying the merchandise was authentic, could not get the Ed Hardy Boys or Chris Awful to relent. All she got was "terse, nasty responses accusing her, AAFES, and basically anyone else selling their merchandise on EBay of being crooks." We believe that Ed Hardy Boys are the crooks and the liars. They are deliberately interfering with lawful auctions because they can and they know there is little likelihood of being held accountable. That qualifies them as artistic scumballs.

See also, Trademarks on eBay: worse than the DMCA posted by David Alpert for The Information Policy Action Committee, June 22, 2007

Trademark Abuses Of The Month posted by David Nieporent, June 27, 2007, about Ed Hardy and others who are abusing the VeRO program.

We've seen this attitude before and we think it's the same thing here. Ed Hardy, Christian Audigier and Nervous Tattoo are all a bunch of flaming assholes who think they have the right to unlawfully interfere with the sales of legitimate goods because "They Say So". So now, the Tabberone Trademark And Copyright Abusers' Hall Of Shame awards the Terrible Trio the coveted WeSaySO Award.