eBay Describes the Scale of Its Counterfeit Goods Problem 124
Ian Lamont writes "As the Tiffany vs. eBay lawsuit winds its way through a federal appeals court, eBay has trotted out some numbers that show how many sellers attempt to sell fake goods on the auction site. Millions of auctions were delisted last year, and tens of thousands of accounts were suspended after reports were made to eBay's Verified Rights Owner program, which lets trademark owners notify eBay of fake goods being sold on the site. eBay says 100% of reported listings were removed from the site last year, most within 12 hours, and the company uses sellers' background information to make sure that they don't create new accounts to sell delisted items. Tiffany brought the suit against eBay in 2004, alleging that eBay was turning a blind eye to counterfeit luxury goods and demanding that eBay police its listings for bogus goods. Tiffany lost the case last July and will shortly present its arguments to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York. A similar case in France cost eBay $61 million."
Re:Everyday goods as well (Score:3, Informative)
There is a website [wordpress.com] with information on how to spot fake blades on FleaBay.
Re:The VERO Customer Support is terrible!!! (Score:4, Informative)
I don't know Monavie from a hole in the wall, but are you suggesting that they have the right to restrict the sale of a physical item that was legitimately bought? Assuming the OP buys a physical item with no signed contractual agreement not to resell it, what basis does the manufacturer have to prohibit the sale.
Come on. It it were Sony/BMG trying to prevent him from reselling a brand new, still in the wrapper, Rap-Snoop-Poop-Dog's Greatest Hits album, you'd be all over Sony. According to your views, now we don't even own the physical items we purchase.
Please let me off this bus!
Re:Sure... (Score:5, Informative)
Because they know that x of the labels or jeans that the labels are sewn to are going to be imperfect, and it's more cost effective to ship an extra percentage point of raw materials the first time, than have to deal with shipping another small batch if the shop couldn't meet their quota.
The figures aren't going to be as exaggerated as in GP (100 spare per 500), but if a factory makes 10,000 pairs of jeans, it's natural that there will be spare stuff laying around.
Re:The VERO Customer Support is terrible!!! (Score:4, Informative)
That's because VeRO staff are not allowed to say anything other than "contact the rights owner" Seriously, that's the policy.
The VeRO members also know that, and can blissfully ignore any eBay member that shows even the slightest bit of anger.
Here's the real escalation path:
1. Do Not write into eBay, you will be told to wait a week the second you do, instead
2. Write to the rights owner first, specify exactly why your item is legitimate. If you did not buy the item directly from the rights owner, you have no case.
3. Once you get a confirmation from the rights owner that your item is legitimate, then write to eBay, and say straight off that you have contacted the rights owner, and include the entire conversation email with the rights owner.
If the rights owner ignores you, or tells you off, you must then either
A: Sue the rights owner until they contact eBay
B: Bring as much media attention as possible to the company who reported you as possible to embarrass them.
I you contact eBay first, you only have the choice of waiting a week, contacting the rights owner as in above, and then waiting up to a month.
If it's a copyright violation (not trademark), file a DMCA counternotice, immediately. The rights owner then has to sue you in order to keep the items off the site.
If it's a trademark issue, you are f***ed, sue the rights owner for damages.
Either way, as long as the item was removed through the VeRO program, you must not list any item on eBay that may lead to multiple VeRO violations. VeRO members also know this, and can conspire if they wanted to to take down high ranking powersellers by filing all their VeRO removals at the same time. And yes, it happens. Alternative medicine importers love doing this.
Some VeRO members are horribly incompetent at reporting and have very high false positive rates, such members eventually are flagged for doing so, but it will only happen if the rights owner reports that they made a mistake. Few rights owners will admit to making a mistake, so sue them if you bought the item from them. It does not matter if the company forbids resale of their merchandise on the internet (*mway), that does not make the item illegal, and eBay only removes ILLEGAL items via the VeRO program.
Re:The VERO Customer Support is terrible!!! (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Sure... (Score:5, Informative)
>>>how many of those items were NOT counterfeits, but merely real items that the trademark owner wants to illegitimately prevent from being legitimately resold?
That happened to me one time when I was trying to sell a store-bought DVD of a movie. Ebay told me who complained, and it was some lawfirm in California that is tasked by the Hollywood corporations to take-down ebay sales. I called and asked why they took down my auction, but they refused to say anything except that if I relist it, I'd be taken to court.
I ignored them and relisted the item anyway. The second time it sold, but it was still frustrating because the second auction did not go as high as the first auction. Stupid fucking lawyers. They shouldn't be able to randomly take down legitimate sales.
Re:Sure... (Score:4, Informative)
Actually, I know that Levis does this, and the 'bad' ones are sold in outlet stores for about half the price of regular jeans. You can go in to those outlet stores and if you can spot the flaw, then you've got great eyes. I usually can't. Anytime someone travels to the US, I ask them to pick me up a pair.
Re:Everyday goods as well (Score:2, Informative)