Report competitor for copyright breach?

InsideInsurance

Alternatively go retro and write to their legal department:

Legal Department
Disney Interactive Media Group
3 Queen Caroline Street
London
W6 9PE

patman99

How do you know that the items are fake?. They may simply be dropshipping from a legitimate license-holder?.

Ambit_miffed

I can't say 100% they are fake, but I have persued the avenue of getting an official Disney lisence myself, you need several years of established trading and to be turning over a significant amount to even be considered, the lisence costs a shed load of money, and the product has to be of a certain quality.

Someone on eBay selling a laminated piece of paper is not going to have a legitimate lisence to use images for commercial use.

They are people just using images they find on the Internet and printing them out on their home printer. I've got nothing against competition, but when they use illegal activities to get one up over what I can offer, it is unfair.

I could be wrong, but I doubt it.

Thanks for the uk address, that looks like the one that I need!

InsideInsurance

Or are there templates you can legitimately buy and simply add the text to? Cannot say explicitly for the ones there but have seen somethings not too disimilar in toyshops for home creation (though if that license would allow resale is another matter)

pitkin2020

Ambit_miffed wrote: »

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?

Yes it is in breach of Disneys copyright and they may or may not be interested.

I don't understand why you would want to report them though other than because they are using someone elses image.

In your opening post you are complaining about them potentially taking business away from you, and you make references to them making the same products. So unless you are producing an identical product with a license then you have no competition and you personally have nothing to complain about.

I think you should just worry about promoting your products and protecting what you own or what you have a license to produce rather than whining about what others are doing.

paulwf

I can't see this battle being won - as frustrating as it is - because as soon as soon as some traders get stopped new ones will appear. If the product can be made using images from the internet, a home printer and a laminator you'll always have lots of competition undercutting you with an inferior product.

I'd suggest having a rethink about the products you sell. Products that require specialist machinery or expertise will always be better as there will be a natural barrier keeping competitors out of the market.

raineshoe

WhiteHorse wrote: »

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

Oh definitely. Disney will be very interested. I've known them go after face painters who have put pics up that they have done of Mickey Mouse etc on their web site. Face painting is a temporary image if you like, but Disney come down like a ton of bricks. Be warned.

Harriebabe

Coincidentally (or not, as there are quite a few of us around!), I make a similar product and I also get quite annoyed to see people clearly flouting the copyright laws. I have lost count of the number of times I've had to turn away business and explain that I can't put a picture of Buzz Lightyear on a gift for a little boy.

But as you say, there are others producing similar products using their own designs which aren't Disney and I don't really see that they are taking my business away from me.

Ambit_miffed

With regards to the "taking business away from me" statement - this is my viewpoint

If a parent is buying a personalised lunchbox or whatever for their child, they go on the net, and find a few companies / ebay people who offer these types of products. They look at the range available to them.

After reviewing all the potential products, they decide on buying a princess lunchbox. Now they have two options. A personalised princess lunchbox with a picture of a generic princess on it which is legally copyrighted to the relevant person - or - a disney princess, the very princess that is their little girls absolute favourite, that is well known and loved and instantly recognised - however this is an illegal use of the picture.

As a consumer i'm going to pick the disney princess option - it's the one my kid will love more. I probably either don't know - or don't care that it breaches copyright.

My frustration is that this product should not even be on the shelf for the person to choose from in the first place as it is illegal.

If they only had a choice of "non dinsey" to princesses to choose from, i would stand a better chance at getting their business when competing with others. As it stands, they are offering a superior product (in terms of picture design, not quality), illegally.



NB: if they di have a legimate lisence to be able to use disney images then fair play, that is fair competition, legal and nothing i should be concerned about - But big companies like disney don't dish out their commercial use lisence to small little flea bay sellers, and even if they did, it costs loads. I may stand to be corrected and that these sellers could have a legitmate standing, but i just don't see how.