Report competitor for copyright breach?

Ambit_miffed

Hi all,

I make and sell a product through my own website. I have some web based competitors but most of them are set up on eBay.

On eBay, these products are littered with blatant breaches of copyright - ie they are using images from Disney / peppy pig etc to sell their product.

I have looked into the legality how getting a licence to use Disney images legitimately, and I do not see how anyone selling the products we are is big enough to be able to entertain the idea.

So, I am a bit miffed that these competitors could potentially be taking away customers from me, because they are offering a counterfeit product.

However, I can't complain to Disney etc, as this is far too small fish for them to even bother with

I can't complain to eBay as I am not the actual copyright owner of the images, so have no standing according to their vero policy


So what else can I do? Can I report them to the office of fair trading? They are not breaching my copyright, and I can't say 100% certain that they don't have a licence (but there is no chance that they will, they have just done a google image search and stole them from the net) some of them even have the cheek to say they are not breaching copyright as the images were from ones they found on the net!

All these products are being sold for a commercial profit, and are being sold by registered eBay business users, not personal accounts

Can anyone suggest anything?

Mrs_Huggett

You would be surprised, many moons ago I worked for a fancy dress hire company, and they were not allowed to name some of thier costumes as the characters, they had a couple of visits and a stern warning, and we never put those costumes in the window. So if you got in touch they may be interested ??

Scarpacci

I'm fairly sure this would only be a matter for the copyright holder or the market place (depending on their rules), I don't see how the OFT would be interested. Consumer regulators might be interested if they're passing the merchandise off as officially licensed, but if they're not explicitly and falsely stating that then I don't see a consumer problem. Bootleg merchandise is a fact of life for copyright holders and TV or movie companies aren't necessarily that interested in clamping down on it.

InsideInsurance

I wouldnt rule out the likes of Disney thinking they are too small fry to go after but would need to understand better what you and they are selling. Is it genuine Disney merchandise? Are they fake Disney stuff? Is it non-Disney related items but they are using Disney characters in their marketing?

Ambit_miffed

Thanks all, here is an example product

EBay item number 260890802602

Sorry cant post links yet.

Without the use of these images, the product is non existent, and of course the general public much prefer to have a well known Disney character on their product than any other legitimate, but less well known drawing

Mistral001

I agree with those who say that Disney etc might be very interested in people breaching their copyright even how small they are. Many big firms will scan ebay searching for people selling things which breach their terms and conditions. I bought a Sage accounts software package a few years ago and after not using it, decided to put it on ebay. I got a message from ebay saying that Sage had made a complaint and they (ebay) had decided to take the item off their listings..

So report to Disney and let them deal with it. But remember to make sure that you are absolutely squeaky clean with regard to copyright.

InsideInsurance

Assuming they are creating the whole thing themselves then Disney may well be interested.

You can report them to eBay yourself via http://contact.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ContactUs&wftype=2023&rcode=CW%3DC00242&subject=Replicas%2C%20counterfeit%20items%2C%20and%20unauthorized%20copies&bcrumb=%20Home%20%3E%20Help%20%3EMembership%20%26%20account%3ERules%20%26%20policies%3EReplica%2C%20counterfeit%20items%2C%20and%20unauthorized%20copies%20policy&instruction=&expirationDate= though how much interest they have in 3rd party complaints I dont know but the policy doesnt state you have to be the owner to complain

WhiteHorse

Ambit_miffed wrote: »

However, I can't complain to Disney etc, as this is far too small fish for them to even bother with.

Don't bet on it - Disney are extremely aggressive.

Ambit_miffed

Thanks all, and thanks for the ebay link to report items, thats a good start.

Anyone have any idea on exactly where in Disney i can report it to? do they have a "corporate" website as opposed to their visitor one, i presume i'm looking for their legal department? if not i might just try address it blindly to their UK head office

Hopefully the ebay bit will pay off as it is going to be slow and painful to fight this battle getting disney / whoever owns peppa pig / hello kitty etc on my side.

DylanO

Unless you're planning on producing Disney products, I don't see how these sellers are taking customers away from you?

They're breaching copyright and they should absolutely be stopped from doing that, but I fail to see how they are taking custom from you.

DylanO

A quick Google search brought up the required contact details for you - http://family.go.com/copyright/