Chinese sellers using images that belong to me to sell a product that doesn't match the images.

[turnb.le]

Hi there, 

I have an Etsy store which has some hand made bespoke wooden bike holders, when I did my first advert I took pictures and videos of my girlfriend using the item, I own these images. 

This is not a generic item that other people can sell, I made it myself and the images are of my actual product. 

A few days ago I had a loss of sales, I did a google search and found 33 adverts from Chinese sellers using my images - images of my girlfriend in my house holding my bike on a hanger that I built. 

I can not describe how sick this made me feel, 

I should also add that the product they make and the one I make are distinctively different, different wood, different shape, and I offer variations, they have put all the photos of variations next to their product yet they only offer one product, basically that's like me using pictures of a ford focus, with a bentley and then a jaguar - when I am selling just a ford focus. so their adverts are not accurate, a buyer will buy this expecting to receive the bike holder that I make and receive something very bad and low quality. 

Also, they have messed up all my google adverts, used to be if you search "wooden bike hanger" my Etsy advert would come up, instead now it's still "my advert images" but instead half price eBay ones for a product that isn't the same as mine. I have directly lost sales.

I never gave anyone on eBay consent to use these images, I was told I could get them taken down "within hours" but reporting the advert does nothing, as the option for "they stole my images from Etsy" doesn't show,

The Vero program is just an email, and I have had no reply in 4 days,

Can someone tell me what I should do here?

[goodbrakes]

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do once you load pictures up on eBay.

What should I do if my image, video or text is being used by another seller?

When you create listings you give eBay and its customers permission, through our User Agreement, to use your images, videos and product details. Your content may be added to the eBay product catalog, and may be used by other sellers in their eBay listings.

You may contact the seller and ask them to remove your image or text if it is not part of the eBay product catalog.

[reallynicestamps]

While this is very distressing to a craftsman, what do you imagine will happen when those buyers get the second-rate (or no) product from the picture thieves?

With any luck, they will open Not As Described disputes with eBay and eventually the thieves will either be closed down or will move on.

Not only eBay has been used like this, but etsy was rife with this sort of fraud even a decade ago when the much missed website Regretsy satirized them and called them to account. Etsy's response was to lawyer up and close her down.

[duffy4444]

   Whether it be eBay, Etsy, Amazon or anywhere else online, your photos are fair game to be reused UNLESS you went to the extent and expense of legally copyrighting them. Even then, the Chinese have the reputation of cheating and outright  intellectual theft, and usually thumb their nose at US or international copyright laws. They are not a friend of the UK or US, our laws, our protections, or international copyrights. If you were to request them to take the photos down, you would probably receive crickets from them (after they laugh at you).

   The best you can do is modify your own listings to explain that yours are the genuine and original photos and products, and that foreign copycats have co-opted your photos to put their inferior product in front of customers. And the best you can hope for is that the Chinese thieves will be receiving a bunch of SNAD claims. A lot of US buyers avoid items from China for this very reason, among others.

   Sorry this has happened to you, but it is an unfortunate negative aspect of online commerce. Keep your chin up...

Cheers,

Duffy

[turnb.le]

I didn't upload them on eBay, they stole them from Etsy, 

Please read the original OP properly, 

[ckimodog]

@turnb.le 

Did you post your complaint on etsy?  This is eBay. 

[turnb.le]

Please read the original OP, 

They stole my images from Etsy, and uploaded them on eBay, 

As I CLEARLY state in the OP, 

I know this is eBay. 

[luckythewinner]

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@turnb.le wrote:

The Vero program is just an email, and I have had no reply in 4 days

The VERO program is not "just an email".

It is a program that allows intellectual property owners can register and describe their intellectual property. Registered VERO users - or anyone else - can submit a Notice of Claimed Infringement (NOCI) under the umbrella of the OCILLA Act of the DMCA and request that infringing content be removed.

If eBay decides to preserve eBay's "safe harbor" protection from liability for infringement by that seller, they will remove the listing and give the seller the opportunity to challenge your NOCI via a counter-notice.

If eBay chooses not to preserve eBay's "safe harbor" protection from liability for infringement by that seller and leave the listing up, you will need to take legal action against eBay or the seller.

[turnb.le]

This is better than the other people here telling me there is nothing I can do, which is factually incorrect.

[maxine*j · Accepted solution]

Here is the portion of the eBay User Agreement that applies to your situation:

"What content is allowed?

"You may use images, videos or text on eBay as long as your use of that content does not infringe third-party rights... 

"Can I use images or videos that I copied from other websites on eBay?

"No, you can't use images or videos from a manufacturer's website, even if it is publicly available. Copying content from other websites or internet searches may be considered copyright infringement..."

How to enforce that, though? There's the VeRO program, which which you're familiar, and I'd say you best bet is to continue to pursue VeRO registration.  If eBay gets a report from a VeRO member, the take-down of the offending listing is pretty much automatic. 

If you cannot do that, or it is ineffective, you next step is to take legal counsel.  Find an attorney experienced with intellectual property rights.  A type of fraud is also being committed by those sellers, since they use your pictures to deliberately misrepresent what they're selling, and your attorney might have fun with that, as well.

At the same time, the sellers are in China and if you stop one, two others start up to replace him, so I'm not sure how far lawyers will get with eBay in this matter (and there's no reason at all for the lawyers to bother contacting the sellers).

I'm sorry this is happening to you.  For small craftsmen, it really is just one distracting thing after another, when all you want to do is get on with your work.

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[turnb.le]

Thanks for your input but it is factually incorrect, there are several sellers on Etsy who have successfully removed images used on eBay through the Vero program, you own the rights to an image when you take that photo, I also never gave eBay permission to use it as these images were never uploaded through eBay. 

I came here to speak to someone who actually experienced a successful DMCA takedown, 

So far I have just been given misleading information.

[maxine*j]

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@turnb.le wrote:

... you own the rights to an image when you take that photo... 

---

Correct.  And many people do not know that.  For those not familiar with the issue, this is a brief quote from the U.S. Copyright Office:

"Copyright protection exists from the moment an original work is 'fixed' in a tangible medium.  For photographers, for example, fixation occurs when you take a picture. You don't need to do anything else at all for your work to be protected by copyright."

https://www.copyright.gov/engage/photographers/

-

[turnb.le]

Thank you, 

I agree, and you are correct, it is wasting my time doing this, 

They have already created around 33 replica accounts which is clearly illegal, in fact if I could call eBay I could have them taken down based on that, without going through Vero, 

However, when you try and find an line of communication with eBay - or a contact, you just get drawn in to a circular series of click here for help options. I can't find the correct sequence to actually get a phone call with them. 

Thank you 

[duffy4444]

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@turnb.le wrote:

Thanks for your input but it is factually incorrect, there are several sellers on Etsy who have successfully removed images used on eBay through the Vero program, you own the rights to an image when you take that photo, I also never gave eBay permission to use it as these images were never uploaded through eBay. 

I came here to speak to someone who actually experienced a successful DMCA takedown, 

So far I have just been given misleading information.

---

@turnb.le:

  In the real world, the information I gave in my first reply IS correct. IF you actually can get the photos taken down (not a guarantee), most likely you will constantly be playing time-consuming whack-a-mole when they pop up again with a new Chinese buyer ID. Opportunists, though not entirely limited to Chinese, are very smart, undeterred, and capable of not flinching and going in thru the back door.

   That is why I recommended that you protect yourself as best you can by modifying your Etsy listing with an explanation that yours are genuine and the others are inferior fakes... you may also want to directly confront the issue by also listing your products right here on eBay with the same updated information.

Cheers, Duffy 

[turnb.le]

Thanks,

This is very distressing,

eBay should do more to protect its stock suppliers who do honour the rules. 

Neutrality always favours the rule breakers.