false claims of counterfeiting

monkphin · #1 11-12-2008, 07:37 AM

Hi,

Just wondering what my standing is here, I recently received some headphones as a manufacturers replacement under its 12 month warranty, which since I have upgraded MP3 Player/Phone I have no further need for. I listed them on Ebay on Monday evening, 24 hours later I was told by Ebay they had been taken down for copyright infringement and I needed to contact the manufacturers legal team to find out why and ask if I could relist them.

Sent an email to the manufacturer, who replied and told me in no uncertain terms I was dealing in counterfeit goods.

I have replied to them since but am still to yet receive a reply. What standing do I have in this situation, as far as I can tell this is essentially a form of Defamation, since i am being falsely accused of selling counterfeit goods and have had my auction (Which had a few watchers) pulled, along with my right to sell something I own denied.

I am tempted to pass this story onto a few tech sites, however before I do this I am curios as to how to best handle the situation and stay completely legal and not damage any potential case I may have against the manufacturer.

FlyingRon · #2 11-12-2008, 10:38 AM

Go back to the EBAY community/forums "Policies" group and read the sticky thread on VERO (right at the top). The answer is that you will get NO satisfaction from EBAY. They roll over at the request of a VERO member absent any other court order. You have no direct redress over trademark/counterfeit complaints there as you would for copyright issues.

Particularly find the messages from the user "tabberone" who has filed over a dozen federal lawsuits to get people abusing the vero program to settle and permit her auctions.