eBay Seller Fights Back and Wins VERO Copyright and Trademark Lawsuit

[Kristijntje]

Kopp wrote and published a guide to the electronic video game “World of Warcraft” – currently the most popular online game in North America – and began selling copies of the guide on eBay on Aug. 18, 2005...

After Kopp began selling his guide, Blizzard Entertainment, Vivendi and the ESA filed several notices of claimed infringement under the DMCA, asserting that Kopp’s guide violated the video game maker’s intellectual property rights.

EBay terminated auctions for the guide as a result of the notices. EBay terminates auctions if intellectual property owners that are part of eBay’s “Verified Rights Owners” (or VeRO) program – in this case, Blizzard, Vivendi and the ESA – file notices of infringement against particular auctions in accordance with the DMCA. Although Kopp filed a counter notice with eBay, a procedure under the DMCA allowing targeted users to contest a claimed infringement, the companies continued to terminate Kopp’s auctions. When a certain number of auctions are terminated – the exact number varies from person to person – eBay suspends the seller’s account. Kopp’s account has been suspended, meaning he has been unable to sell his guide on eBay and has lost profits as a result.

Today’s settlement states that the companies will withdraw their previous notices of infringement, allowing Kopp to once again sell his guide on eBay, and drop their claims of copyright and trademark infringement. The companies also agreed that they would not file future notices of infringement against Kopp regarding items for which he has already filed a counter notice.  Kopp agreed to continue to keep a disclaimer of not being an official guide and to not include links or instructions on how to locate “cheats” in the game...

full article: http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=2217

copy of lawsuit: http://www.citizen.org/documents/003-Complaint.pdf