[Nettime-bold] enforcement@ebay.com vs artists (terrence-)

[Terrence Kosick <kosick@sprint.ca>]

Terrence writes;

Is E-bay enforcement controlling free speech?

Where does trademark infrigment end and free speech begin?

Join in the discusssion at E-bays Discussion forum "Soapbox"

here

http://forums.ebay.com/dwb?14@171.73jma9UdsW7^3@.ee7ba0c


Thank you

Artnatural. + free art information!


enforcement@ebay.com vs artists
terrence-  (0) (view author's auctions)
8:14pm September 2, 2001

does e-bay have a sense of culture or is it only interested in exclusive
community creation to support a
corporate drive for profit and e-power at the cost of culture?

Subject:
           FLUXLIST: eBay wants www.ebayart.com
     Date:
           Sun, 26 Aug 2001 14:09:11 -0400
     From:
           allen bukoff <allen@fluxus.org>
 Reply-To:
           FLUXLIST@scribble.com
       To:
           FLUXLIST@scribble.com
      CC:
           "Susan K." <enforcement@ebay.com>

I registered ebayart.com a couple of years ago thinking that it would
make
a nice home for a website that would document the various "art" projects

that we've been seeing on eBay.com for several years now (some of which
I
think have been really clever, some of which I think have been really
interesting). Despite my best intentions I haven't had the time to
create
this site...one of many projects on a back burner. eBay-the-company has
finally caught up with me, though. I don't think this is really a big
deal
or worthy of a fight--doing a website cataloging art projects using
eBay.com can still be done (and maybe already has...anyone know of any
such
websites?)...without using a domain name that eBay the company finds
infringing.

I've been noticing in the press recently how eBay-the-company is getting
a
bad reputation as a corporate bully. It's ironic, of course, that eBay's

very meaning and existence depends on a very democratic person-to-person

process. Some people/companies just don't understand what they have or
what they are. - Allen B

       From: PF-Enforcement <enforcement@ebay.com> To:
"'allen@fluxus.org'"
       <allen@fluxus.org> Subject: Domain Name Registration -
EBAYART.COM
       Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2001 13:45:46 -0700

       Dear Domain Name Registrant: It recently has come to our
attention
       that you have registered one or more domain names that include
the
       eBay name and trademark, and that you may also be operating a Web

       site incorporating the eBay name. As you know, eBay is a leader
in
       person-to-person online trading and maintains the www.ebay.com
Web
       site. eBay owns exclusive trademark rights to the eBay name in
the
       United States and internationally. eBay has made a substantial
       investment in developing and providing its services and has
acquired
       a tremendous amount of goodwill and brand equity in the eBay
name. As
       we hope you can appreciate, eBay is concerned that your
unauthorized
       use of the eBay name may cause confusion as to whether you or
your
       company's activities are authorized, endorsed or sponsored by
eBay
       when, in fact, they are not.

       Federal and state laws, including the Anticybersquatting Consumer

       Protection Act of 1999, recently passed by Congress, provide for
       serious penalties (up to $100,000) against persons who, without
       authorization, use, sell, or offer for sale a domain name that
       infringes another's trademark. Infringers who have been notified
of
       such infringing activity, but do not cease their infringements,
may
       also be considered "willful" and could be subject to additional
money
       damages. Having received this e-mail, you are on such notice .

       For your information, the text of the Anticybersquatting Act may
be
       found at
http://www.submerged-ideas.com/litigation/anticybersquat.htm
       More information on trademark law may be found at
       http://www.fplc.edu/tfield/aVoid.htm.

       While eBay respects your rights of expression and desire to do
       business on the World Wide Web, eBay must enforce its own rights
in
       order to protect its valuable and famous name. We appreciate that
you
       may have registered the above-mentioned domains with the best of
       intentions and without full knowledge of the law in this area.
       Nonetheless, under the circumstances, we must insist that you:
(1)
       stop using the eBay name in your domain name; (2) do not use such

       domain name(s) on an active web site; (3) do not renew such
domain
       names



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