In the blogosphere…A VeRO case has its day in court

Questions about how VeRO (our Verified Rights Owners program that protects the rights of intellectual property owners) works are commonplace during our Town Hall events and on our discussion forums.  When a seller wondering why one of their items was removed came to our Watches, Clocks & Timepieces forum recently, gregoryswatches gave a good outline of the VeRO process:

“If the reason is [VeRO], eBay had nothing to do with the takedown and was just responding to the VeRO complaint as they are required by law to do. If they fail to take down an auction reported by a VeRO member (manufacturer), they become jointly liable for the infringement under the Safeharbor provisions of the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act). For VeRO takedowns, you need to contact the VeRO member to resolve the problem before re-listing. If they were in error, have them contact eBay to remove the complaint from your eBay record.”

While intellectual rights ownership is a complex legal environment that often straps eBay’s hands, the Chatter team thought a post on the influential tech policy blog Techdirt was worth calling out. It comments on a current case between an overzealous rights owner and an eBay seller in which eBay’s legal team has become involved. It underscores that while we need to protect the rights of copyright owners, we also will fight against those trying to abuse the system.