ebay patent violation on a second hand item?

seaborgium

Hey everyone
I've been trying to sell a second hand portable tanning booth that my Mum no longer needs but my listing has been removed off of ebay twice (I tried changing the wording around the second time i listed it).

After the first time it was removed I emailed the patent holder, on the email address ebay gave me but they did not reply. I emailed them again today after they removed it again the second time.

I've contacted ebay twice now, first using their online instant messeging chat system and today over the phone and they said there is nothing they can do and they have to remove the item from ebay if they are contacted by a verified rights owner.

Below is the email they sent to me:

[FONT=&quot]Dear ***************************

Thank you for your recent listing on eBay. The rights owner or an agent authorized to act on behalf of the rights owner, The Spray Tan Cubicle Co Ltd, notified eBay that this listing breaches intellectual property rights. When eBay receives a report of this type of breach, we remove the listing to comply with the law.
Questions about the specific violation should be addressed to The Spray Tan Cubicle Co Ltd
You can send an email to: steve.m@spraytancubicle.c om

For more information on how eBay protects Intellectual Property, please visit the following Help page:

Link removed

Unfortunately, the following item(s) breached one or more of our policies and had to be removed from the site.

220635265879 - Spray tan tent tanning booth fake tan with carry case


Any associated fees have been credited to your account and any bidders on this item have been notified.


Why did we remove your listing?

The rights owner reported the following information:


Hi

The Pop Up Spray Tan Tents would have been removed by Ebay as they we’re available into the UK and/or some other parts of Europe and so would be infringing on the pop-up patent for this region.


The pop up Patent held under license for the UK and parts of Europe by our manufacturer Finecard International Ltd t/a The Ninja Corporation: POP UP PATENT EP0487642

Look up available at Intellectual property site: Linked removed

The Spray Tan Cubicle Company Limited have had the authority by Finecard International Ltd to act as agent in the removal of the Pop up cubicle from ebay.

Ebay rightly uphold the removal of items that infringe the regional patent - not from where they are sold but as to where they are made available to.

Please make sure any future listings for this item don’t appear as available to the following countries Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, S

You may not list items on eBay that infringe the patent rights of an individual or company. Such listings are both unlawful and against eBay policy.

The rights owner for the item you listed sent us a signed legal statement telling us that your item infringed their copyright, trademark or other rights. We were therefore legally obliged to remove the listing.

If you have any questions about the removal of your listing please contact the rights owners directly.

A patent is a type of intellectual property right that gives a person the sole rights to make use of an invention. The item you are posting may use this invention without their permission, thereby infringing the person's intellectual property rights.

If you need help with this policy, please follow this link:

Link removed

For more information on Patent Violation - Unauthorised Item copy this link into a new browser window:

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We do this in order to keep the site safe for all members, and sometimes this means removing certain listings.



The next time you sell, you may be asked to take the tutorial, if it's required. Once you've completed it successfully, please review your alerts and messages in My eBay for any other possible concerns. If there are no other issues, you should be able to sell again.

Although there may be similar items currently listed on eBay, please be assured that your listings have not been targeted in any way. We review all listings that are reported to us by eBay members and participants in the VeRO (Verified Rights Owner) Programme, and we rely on these reports to help keep eBay a safe and reputable place to buy and sell.



We appreciate your membership of our community, so please keep in mind that repeatedly listing items that breach our policies may lead to the suspension of your account.

Here's what to do if you have further questions:

1) To find out more about our intellectual property policies and VeRO take eBay's brief tutorial by copying this link into a new browser window:

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2) You may also find it useful to read the "Why eBay May Remove Your Listing" Help page by copying this link into a new browser window:

Link removed

3) If your item was ended by the VeRO programme, and you think the listing was removed in error have a look at the rights owner's About Me page to review their infringement policies. Then, if you still think that your listing was removed in error, please contact the rights owner and let them know.

If you still have questions after reading this information, you can contact eBay by clicking "Contact Us" on any eBay Help page.

Thank you for your cooperation in this important matter.
Regards,

eBay Trust & Safety


H5261[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]
btw I did choose the ebay option of posting to UK bidders only, or that they could come and collect.

Any advice or help on where I'm going wrong would be greatly appreciated. Is there anyway I can sell this?

I've never had any problems with selling stuff on ebay that I no longer need before, and this tent is worth a fair amount; before it got removed off of ebay the second time it had been on ebay for approx 2 days and had been bid upto £40 by 5 bidders, and had 8 people watching it.

Thanks a lot.[/FONT]

iieee

Certain companies like to retain the rights to their products so that no-one can sell the product on without their permission (remember all the hassle years ago when supermarkets wanted to sell CK underpants cheaply?). If you continue to list the item then you will eventually get your account suspended. You would be better off looking at trying to sell it via local newspaper ad or something like that.

forgotmyname

Sell a postcard with the item as a free gift, Didnt work for people selling illegal
modchips for Sony playstations though.

Used to be funny reading the new updated auctions, "Dear Ebay, This item is not illegal it comes with no software or games on it"
They soon got removed though.

Its a bit of a pain knowing you cannot sell something because the original manufacturer says they dont want them listed on ebay.
If its 2nd hand then i would have thought they had no rights, But Ebay have their own laws.

arriva

if the manufacturer gave it for free I could understand but you probably paid for it so you should be able to do anything you want with it, for example selling it.
I know it doesn't apply to real life... just common sense.

soolin

If you recall Tesco had exactly the same issues a few years back when they tried to sell branded sports clothing and th emanufacturers refused to supply anyone that sold to them as it was 'not their preferred market'.

Crowqueen

In the gaming/Dungeons and Dragons world, there are some companies who won't supply books to online retailers, or closed their own direct online shops, because they specifically want to support ordinary gaming shops. Their stuff is available on Amazon etc. but it's difficult to find an eBay-exclusive retailer who receives product.

patman99

Try placing the same advert (by cut and pasting) for your Pop Up Tanning thingy on Gumtree, craigslist, adtrader & vivastreet. Make sure you research the 2nd-hand prices first though.

I had a listing for a YSL coat removed from ebay a while back. Ended-up selling it on ebid instead (about the only thing I ever did manage to sell on that site though)

seaborgium

Thanks for all the replies guys, I think the most sensible thing to do is stick it up on gumtree, adtrader etc...
But I'm gonna wait and see if the patent holder replies first as I reckon I would get the best price for it by selling on ebay.

Thanks again.

patman99

How do you know you will get the best price on ebay?. You might only get £50 for it. At least on the alternatives, you can set your price based on what you think it is worth.

Mollykyns

The same thing happened to me and the patent holder won't reply. He prefers not to because he has exclusive use of Ebay until the patent expires. Ebay for their part aren't much use either. They just keep refering you to the patent holder and so it goes on.
Does anyone know when the patent expires on these tanning tents?

seaborgium wrote: »

Hey everyone
I've been trying to sell a second hand portable tanning booth that my Mum no longer needs but my listing has been removed off of ebay twice (I tried changing the wording around the second time i listed it).

After the first time it was removed I emailed the patent holder, on the email address ebay gave me but they did not reply. I emailed them again today after they removed it again the second time.

I've contacted ebay twice now, first using their online instant messeging chat system and today over the phone and they said there is nothing they can do and they have to remove the item from ebay if they are contacted by a verified rights owner.

Below is the email they sent to me:


[FONT=&quot]btw I did choose the ebay option of posting to UK bidders only, or that they could come and collect.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Any advice or help on where I'm going wrong would be greatly appreciated. Is there anyway I can sell this? [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I've never had any problems with selling stuff on ebay that I no longer need before, and this tent is worth a fair amount; before it got removed off of ebay the second time it had been on ebay for approx 2 days and had been bid upto £40 by 5 bidders, and had 8 people watching it.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Thanks a lot.[/FONT]

tryingtogetsolvent

soolin wrote: »

If you recall Tesco had exactly the same issues a few years back when they tried to sell branded sports clothing and th emanufacturers refused to supply anyone that sold to them as it was 'not their preferred market'.

yes but that is a seller selling the items as " new". I can't see how they can still claim "rights" on second hand goods