Conterfit items policy being used to delete anything not original paper version?

[daemontech]

I was just told that the ebay policy against counterfeits, also means that anything being sold as an electronic/scanned version that was originally sold/available as a print version, Ex old Sears catalogs, would violate this policy now.  Does this sound crazy to you?
It seems like the policy people are interpreting the policy to the letter (anything originally sold as paper cannot be sold as a scanned version on a "preloaded flash drive or CD/DVD" instead of the spirit (You cannot sell your Mix Tape on a flash drive).
It seems like Ebay needs to reword their policy so things are less up to interpretation or Ebay restrictions may be going off the rails.

Am I wrong in this?

[daemontech]

The fact that so many versions of the same and similar things are for sale and allowed and even said to be OK if you report them, it feels like Counterfeit Policy Violations are just an excuse to single out some sellers. 

One of sales examples had a nice paragraph.

"All Ebooks, .pdfs, .jpgs are from public domain and available free on the web and have no copyright infringement. The price is not for the Ebooks, .pdfs, .jpgs that are FREE but is for the labor cost for transferring the files to disk, the re-sale price of the blank disk used to make the CD, DVD, or USB, Ebay and Paypal listing fees, and shipping costs involved, therefore permissible under the "Fair Use" exemption clause of the current U.S. Copyright Act."

[femmefan1946]

but also means you cannot sell anything that is not the original printed version.

The magic word here is "sell".

There is an organization called Creative Commons which works to allow the distribution of copyright works, but they are a nonprofit and do not condone selling the intellectual property of others. They depend on sharing not selling.

I don't know who it is but someone out there owns the Sears name and copyright. It has some value even if the original company went bankrupt. Probably someone owns the tradename Packard or Stanley Steamer.

[tobaccocardyahoo]

Most marketplaces ignore seller on seller complaints.

They rely on their bots to use excess resources to enforce policy while not requiring additional resources.

They do act upon complaints by rights holders and the court orders some of those rights holders obtain blocking payment to violators.

[monica-sells]

Having dealt with some 'over-zealous' copyright lawyers in my course of business, I can reply to this:

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@daemontech wrote:

"Instead of complaining about this advice, you should say thank you for the penalties they are helping you avoid." I would rather have someone contact me directly than a company decide to remove an item because they think that maybe someone may want to sue me for selling it.

Trust me...you do NOT want 'someone' contacting you...that will usually include a monetary stipend along with the C & D. 

If I sold a collection of repair tips for old ford cars. should Ebay cancel my listing because they are worried I might get sued or that they may get sued by Ford?  That seems rather Orwellian. 

You can sell a whole book of Ford repair tips, as long as YOU write it and its your production.

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[albertabrightalberta]

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@albertabrightalberta wrote:

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@daemontech wrote:

Yes for Sears, now show me Montgomery Wards, Lafayette Radio, Concord Radio, Heathkit, Dynaco, etc. etc..
There is no company any longer.

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Ask and ye shall receive: 

Montgomery Wards - https://www.wards.com/cm/terms-of-use.html

• and the applicable portion: b) You have permission to display and electronically copy and print hard copy portions of the Site for Your lawful, personal, family or household (but non-commercial) use. You agree that the hard copy versions of the Materials remain Our property, subject to the terms of this Agreement. You agree not to copy any of the Materials onto Your Device's hard drive or any other electronic storage media, other than as reasonably necessary and incident to utilizing the rights granted to You in the preceding paragraph (a).
• and 
• Unless as expressly permitted in this Agreement, You agree not to, and You will not permit others to, (i) license, sublicense, assign, convey or transfer, the rights and licenses granted hereunder; (ii) publish, display, disclose, sell, rent, lease, store, loan, distribute, transmit, publicly display or perform, co-brand, frame, host, outsource, or otherwise commercially exploit the Site or Materials; (iii) copy or reproduce the Site or Materials or any part thereof, in any form; (iv) remove or alter any trademark, logo, copyright or other proprietary notices, legends, symbols or labels in the Site or Materials; (v) use the Site or Materials in any fashion that may infringe any patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, or any other intellectual property or proprietary right of Ours, Our third-party providers, or any other third-party; (vi) modify, translate, adapt, disassemble, reverse engineer, decompile, reverse compile, or create compilations or derivative works of, the Site or Materials, or any parts thereof (except to the extent applicable laws specifically prohibit such restriction), or (vii) use the Site or Materials for any service bureau, time-sharing, resale or similar purposes.

Heathkit - https://www.heathkit.com/legal.html

• Heath Company and Heathkit products and publication are covered by copyrights, both through the Berne Convention internationally and through explicit registration. Heath Company and Heathkit publications are of world-famous quality, are valuable property, and are copyrighted worldwide by law whether or not marked.
  
  "Fair use" provides no safe harbor for creating, transmitting, storing or selling copies of Heath Company or Heathkit publications in any format or medium. Copyright violators worldwide may be subject to automatic severe statutory penalties.

Enough @daemontech ?

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To be clear, @daemontech . I've highlighted the pertinent parts above in red. Some companies allow you to copy items but specifically state that it's allowed for your own person use and NOT to be used commercially. (And putting them on a disc or PDF and selling on ebay is commercial!)

[tobaccocardyahoo]

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@monica-sells wrote:

You can sell a whole book of Ford repair tips, as long as YOU write it and its your production.

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And acknowledge Ford's ownership of its trademarks. And meet "fair use" standards for its IP rights.

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[daemontech]

I used Sears as a poor example for a lesser known company but it seems Sears is a company that wants to shoot itself in the foot.

In the movie Jose And The Pussycats, it was reported that they used the line (and only this line from the song), "Take the Chevy to the Levy" and a lawyer showed up and said you have to pay us for saying that.  So yes, companies will gouge out money wherever they can at times.

[luckythewinner]

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@daemontech wrote:

I used it as a quick example. It was not Sears.  It was catalogs from a long out of business company named Lafayette Radio that most people have never heard of so I used a name people might know.

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It does not matter. Are you authorized by the current owner of Lafayette Radio's intellectual property to reproduce Lafayette Radio catalogs?

But all that aside ...

You also must be authorized by eBay to sell anything on their site. If eBay told you not to sell it, the rest does not matter.

[daemontech]

That's just it. There is no current owner of Lafayette Radio's intellectual property.