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The Tabberone™ Archives
These articles concern what we consider major trademark and copyright issues. They are usually reproduced with the original source referenced. Bear in mind, these articles are copyrighted and commercial use without permission of the authors may be considered infringement. The intended use here is educational, commentary and non-commercial. The reason they are reproduced in the Tabberone™ Archives, as opposed to just providing a link, is because links disappear and pages are removed. That presents a messy confirmation process that is annoying to the browser (you) but also presents a credibility issue. We do not claim any rights in these pieces. Do not regard the absence of a copyright statement or © to mean the article is not copyrighted. Some sites do not have a copyright statement.

When an article or a comment is posted on the internet by the copyright owner, the owner is seeking a world-wide, 24/7 audience; sometimes for a limited amount of time, sometimes indefinitely. In essence, an internet posting intentionally relinquishes one's copyright for exclusivity because the owner has posted it on the internet to been seen by everyone, everywhere. The Tabberone™ Archives non-commercial duplication of the posting is simply a continuance of the original wishes of the copyright owner. We post these articles for reference, for commentary and for confirmarion of our position.

http://pubcit.typepad.com/clpblog/2007/06/intellectual_pr.html
January 5, 2008

Public Citizen Litigation Group

Wednesday June 7, 2007


Intellectual Property Abuse, eBay, and Consumers
by Greg Beck

InfoWorld’s Ed Foster has an interesting piece on a growing problem for consumers : intellectual property abuse on eBay. As I’ve previously written, some companies would rather if consumers did not have the option of buying less-expensive used products online. By taking advantage of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's takedown provisions, companies claiming copyright infringement can automatically remove used or competing products from the Internet without having to go to court. Foster correctly notes that wrongful claims of trademark infringement can be a bigger problem than copyright. Unlike copyright claims, trademark claims provide the target with none of the DMCA's procedural protections for wrongful terminations. Thus, companies are able to terminate any eBay auction at will, leaving the target without any recourse short of filing a lawsuit and obtaining a declaratory judgment.

The examples of abuse are numerous. Last year, Public Citizen filed suit against a company targeting low-priced generic competition in this way. The company agreed to reimburse the seller for his lost sales.

Posted by Greg Beck on Wednesday, June 20, 2007 at 02:26 PM

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