albertabrightalberta
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Or it could be someone who works for the company and just doesn't want their items sold on ebay.
It's not infringement, illegal or immoral to resell items unless the items are illegal per ebay's disallowed items policy.
They are trying to scare you OP and you don't even have to reply.
If they file a VeRO report that results in a takedown, you can respond to it but if the VeRO reps abuse the policy by performing illegal takedowns, they risk loss of their VeRO status. (Note that any rights holder can apply as VeRO; they don't need to have an ebay account. But as VeRO, there are procedures to follow to get listings removed and trying to bully a seller by contacting them through a listing isn't proper protocol.)
Another thing some companies do is hire what I refer to as "shark law firms." These are real law firms where they make deals with companies and share the money they're successful in extorting from sellers.
What they do is work on the assumption that many sellers don't know their products and accuse those sellers of selling fakes. But for $300 (or $500, 600, or some amount of money), they will drop their lawsuit once you pay them off and end your listings.
Some sellers truly assume they have fakes and in order to avoid what they perceive as expensive lawsuits, they pay.
But for sellers who know that they're selling authentic items and fight them, the law firm eventually goes away and picks on someone else.
It's not infringement, illegal or immoral to resell items unless the items are illegal per ebay's disallowed items policy.
They are trying to scare you OP and you don't even have to reply.
If they file a VeRO report that results in a takedown, you can respond to it but if the VeRO reps abuse the policy by performing illegal takedowns, they risk loss of their VeRO status. (Note that any rights holder can apply as VeRO; they don't need to have an ebay account. But as VeRO, there are procedures to follow to get listings removed and trying to bully a seller by contacting them through a listing isn't proper protocol.)
Another thing some companies do is hire what I refer to as "shark law firms." These are real law firms where they make deals with companies and share the money they're successful in extorting from sellers.
What they do is work on the assumption that many sellers don't know their products and accuse those sellers of selling fakes. But for $300 (or $500, 600, or some amount of money), they will drop their lawsuit once you pay them off and end your listings.
Some sellers truly assume they have fakes and in order to avoid what they perceive as expensive lawsuits, they pay.
But for sellers who know that they're selling authentic items and fight them, the law firm eventually goes away and picks on someone else.
First sale doctrine gives you the right to resell it as long as it's authentic and obtained legally.
Unless you have a contractual agreement with the manufacturer which you've signed and agreed not to resell on third party websites, you aren't bound by their nonsense claiming "unfair competition laws protecting our products." And the federal trademark violation claim is also nonsense since they aren't claiming you're selling fakes and aren't questioning authenticity.
If you feel inclined to respond, include a link to the law:
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/the-first-sale-doctrine.html
Copy and paste this part:
"Every day, millions of consumers make use of the first sale doctrine. This copyright doctrine permits the purchaser of a legal copy of a copyrighted work to treat that copy in any way he or she desires, as long as the copyright owner’s exclusive copyright rights are not infringed. This means the copy can be destroyed, sold, given away, or rented."
Unless you have a contractual agreement with the manufacturer which you've signed and agreed not to resell on third party websites, you aren't bound by their nonsense claiming "unfair competition laws protecting our products." And the federal trademark violation claim is also nonsense since they aren't claiming you're selling fakes and aren't questioning authenticity.
If you feel inclined to respond, include a link to the law:
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/the-first-sale-doctrine.html
Copy and paste this part:
"Every day, millions of consumers make use of the first sale doctrine. This copyright doctrine permits the purchaser of a legal copy of a copyrighted work to treat that copy in any way he or she desires, as long as the copyright owner’s exclusive copyright rights are not infringed. This means the copy can be destroyed, sold, given away, or rented."
Or it could be someone who works for the company and just doesn't want their items sold on ebay.
It's not infringement, illegal or immoral to resell items unless the items are illegal per ebay's disallowed items policy.
They are trying to scare you OP and you don't even have to reply.
If they file a VeRO report that results in a takedown, you can respond to it but if the VeRO reps abuse the policy by performing illegal takedowns, they risk loss of their VeRO status. (Note that any rights holder can apply as VeRO; they don't need to have an ebay account. But as VeRO, there are procedures to follow to get listings removed and trying to bully a seller by contacting them through a listing isn't proper protocol.)
Another thing some companies do is hire what I refer to as "shark law firms." These are real law firms where they make deals with companies and share the money they're successful in extorting from sellers.
What they do is work on the assumption that many sellers don't know their products and accuse those sellers of selling fakes. But for $300 (or $500, 600, or some amount of money), they will drop their lawsuit once you pay them off and end your listings.
Some sellers truly assume they have fakes and in order to avoid what they perceive as expensive lawsuits, they pay.
But for sellers who know that they're selling authentic items and fight them, the law firm eventually goes away and picks on someone else.
It's not infringement, illegal or immoral to resell items unless the items are illegal per ebay's disallowed items policy.
They are trying to scare you OP and you don't even have to reply.
If they file a VeRO report that results in a takedown, you can respond to it but if the VeRO reps abuse the policy by performing illegal takedowns, they risk loss of their VeRO status. (Note that any rights holder can apply as VeRO; they don't need to have an ebay account. But as VeRO, there are procedures to follow to get listings removed and trying to bully a seller by contacting them through a listing isn't proper protocol.)
Another thing some companies do is hire what I refer to as "shark law firms." These are real law firms where they make deals with companies and share the money they're successful in extorting from sellers.
What they do is work on the assumption that many sellers don't know their products and accuse those sellers of selling fakes. But for $300 (or $500, 600, or some amount of money), they will drop their lawsuit once you pay them off and end your listings.
Some sellers truly assume they have fakes and in order to avoid what they perceive as expensive lawsuits, they pay.
But for sellers who know that they're selling authentic items and fight them, the law firm eventually goes away and picks on someone else.
