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Selling Items & Copyright infringement on Ebay

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What is the name of your state? Florida

Not sure I am in the right forum but I seen a lot of questions concerning Ebay here.

I make items and sell on Ebay. One of my items was a lightswitch plate.
I drew a pair of shoes on the plate and filled them in with Red Glitter.
The name of my listing was "Ruby Red Slippers Switchplate". No mention of Wizard of Oz anywhere in my title or ad.

My listing was ended because WB claimed copyright infringement on me.

Can someone own copyright/trademark to words such as "Ruby Red Slippers". I have searched and can't find any legal expressions on this.

Thank you in advance.
 


divgradcurl

Senior Member
Can someone own copyright/trademark to words such as "Ruby Red Slippers".
Potentially someone could own the trademark. You can't copyright a phrase or title. However, someone could have a copyright on a lightswitch plate with red shoes on it...

I have searched and can't find any legal expressions on this.
You are right, there are no registrations for "Ruby Red Slippers" in the U.S. However, Turner Entertainment DOES have two trademark registrations for Ruby Slippers.

The problem, of course, is whether "Ruby Red Slippers" infringes on "Ruby Slippers" -- but that's a question for the courts, who can review ALL of the facts and use the relevant tests to determine infringement.

You could try and appeal the decision with whatever system eBay has in place to deal with such situations, but practically speaking, if eBay doesn't help, there probably isn't muich you can do, unless you are wealthy enough to hire your own lawyer to go after Turner...
 

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