quincy
Senior Member
Mchen25 seems to have had his questions answered pretty well already.I do have a distinctive mark that I use in commerce (my eBay username is unique, notable, and known in small circles). I have not registered the name. I could include the mark and a TM, but I'm certain any trademark would be ignored. The sheer volume of "stock photo/not actual item" used in eBay listings which are actually just lifted from some website or another is staggering.
Whether including the mark and trademark (or photo copyright) notice would give me a stronger legal footing would most likely prove moot, as I haven't and likely never would pursue damages against any of these sellers due to a greatly diminished cost/reward ratio. Perhaps if I had the business model and funding of a ShutterStock I could follow their lead in litigation.
I feel like I should apologize at this point for hijacking Mchen25's thread and leading it so far astray, in my effort to give advice which was only loosely related to the question
We were all speaking of hot linking and I was admittedly ignorant of the problems it causes, so your posts were a good addition. Thanks for educating me.