In another thread I've reported problems with a number of ebayers taking my designs and selling them in direct competition. My problem is that despite reporting the infringements and signing a Notice of Claimed infringement, ebay have yet to get back to me. This has been going on for weeks.
Should I write to their legal department and say that ebay is displaying and profitting from infringing items and they are failing to act?
Or write to the veRo department and ask what the delay is?
The sooner I'm accepted into the vero program the better as the amount of damage to my business is becoming a severe problem.
How should I proceed?
eBay veRo program
Any service provider on the internet can be held liable for copyright infringement once they have been correctly informed of an allegation of infringement by the right owner. This is detailed in the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 as far as UK based companies are concerned and the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (specifically the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA)*) in the USA.
Regulation 19 of the UK Regualtions says:
You should contact the VeRO department and remind them of this stipulation. You can reasonably say that you are taking action against the other company for infringement and that unless eBay show good faith by acting expeditiously you will consider joining them as defendants in the action. If nothing else this may demonstrate that you understand you rights.
In fairness to eBay they get hundreds if not thousands of IP infringement complaints every day, some of which are false, so this may be the reason they are being slow to respond.
*Technically speaking eBay does not qualify for protection under OCILLA because its safe harbor provisions only apply where the provider does “not receive a financial benefit directly attributable to the infringing activity”. Since eBay is a US company and clearly obtains direct financial benefit from every sale of infringing goods, they should be taking this very seriously.
Regulation 19 of the UK Regualtions says:
One of the key words here is 'expeditiously'. The OCILLA also uses the same word.Hosting
19. Where an information society service is provided which consists of the storage of information provided by a recipient of the service, the service provider (if he otherwise would) shall not be liable for damages or for any other pecuniary remedy or for any criminal sanction as a result of that storage where—
(a)the service provider—
(i)does not have actual knowledge of unlawful activity or information and, where a claim for damages is made, is not aware of facts or circumstances from which it would have been apparent to the service provider that the activity or information was unlawful; or
(ii)upon obtaining such knowledge or awareness, acts expeditiously to remove or to disable access to the information, and
(b)the recipient of the service was not acting under the authority or the control of the service provider.
You should contact the VeRO department and remind them of this stipulation. You can reasonably say that you are taking action against the other company for infringement and that unless eBay show good faith by acting expeditiously you will consider joining them as defendants in the action. If nothing else this may demonstrate that you understand you rights.
In fairness to eBay they get hundreds if not thousands of IP infringement complaints every day, some of which are false, so this may be the reason they are being slow to respond.
*Technically speaking eBay does not qualify for protection under OCILLA because its safe harbor provisions only apply where the provider does “not receive a financial benefit directly attributable to the infringing activity”. Since eBay is a US company and clearly obtains direct financial benefit from every sale of infringing goods, they should be taking this very seriously.
Advice or comment provided here is not and does not purport to be legal advice as defined by s.12 of Legal Services Act 2007