Report Counterfeit
What is intellectual property?
Intellectual property is a work or invention that results from human creativity or creations of the mind.
Intellectual property rights are legal rights that, among other things, grant their owners certain benefits from and control over the use of their intellectual property.
The most common intellectual property rights are copyrights, trademarks, patents, registered designs, and rights of publicity.
What constitutes intellectual property infringement?
Intellectual property infringement is the violation of an intellectual property right. For example, creating a listing using a third party’s image, trademark, logo, design, etc., without the appropriate permission from the intellectual property rights owner, can constitute intellectual property infringement.
There are several types of intellectual property infringement:
- Copyright infringement – A copyright is a legal right granted to the creator of an original work, such as a photo, writing, video, song, etc. Copyright infringement can occur when you copy or upload an image, without permission, that is not your own or is not licensed to you.
- Trademark infringement and counterfeiting – A trademark is a word, symbol, phrase, or design, that identifies and legally differentiates the source of the product or services of one entity from those of another. Trademark infringement is the unauthorized use of a trademark in a manner that is likely to cause consumers to be confused as to the source of the product, or as to whether there is some sponsorship or affiliation between the person who is selling the product and the actual trademark owner.
- Counterfeiting – Counterfeiting generally is seen as a type of trademark infringement. Counterfeit products often are fake or unauthorized replicas of real products, and are intended to defraud or deceive consumers into believing the product is authentic.
- Patent infringement – Patents protect an invention against unauthorized reproduction, use, copying, or sale. Patents may cover manufactured items, machines, designs, and various other items or processes. Patents may be registered with each jurisdiction’s regional patent office. Making, using, selling, or offering to sell a patented invention or design without the permission of the patent owner may constitute patent infringement.
- Rights of publicity – Rights of publicity protect the rights of individuals from the unauthorized use of their names, likenesses, or other recognizable aspects of their personas, from being misused in product listings, advertisements, or other commercial activities. Using a third party’s publicity rights without proper authorization may constitute a right of publicity violation.
How to avoid intellectual property violations?
Trading Card Auctions has a strict policy against the listing or sale of products that violate a third party’s intellectual property rights. You can reduce the likelihood of incurring penalties, product listing removals, and potential suspension by considering the guidelines below.
To reduce the likelihood of copyright infringement:
- Create your own original images. This is the best way to prevent copyright infringement.
- Refrain from using images and photos of others without permission. Do not use another person’s image found on the internet, pictures found in a third-party catalog, or images another merchant used to list its own products. As a rule of thumb, you might simply consider anything found on the internet as protected by copyright law.
- If you want to use another person’s image, contact the author of the content, and request permission.
To reduce the likelihood of trademark infringement:
- Refrain from using others’ trademarks in your listings unless you have proper authorization to do so or proof of purchase (e.g., an invoice), or other legal permissions.
- Do not take screenshots of branded/trademarked products from the internet, third-party catalogs, or another merchant’s listings for your product listing.
- Ensure all images and text used in your product listings accurately describe the item.
To reduce the likelihood of counterfeiting:
- Do not sell replicas, counterfeits, or fake versions of actual products.
- Sell authentic and legal goods only.
To reduce the likelihood of patent or community design infringement:
- Refrain from using a patented invention or design without the permission of the patent or registered community design owner.
To avoid a right of publicity violation:
- Refrain from using a person’s name, likeness, or other recognizable aspects of his or her persona in your listing.
- Do not use images of celebrities or famous models to list your products without their consent.
Do’s and Don’ts for listing products on Trading Card Auctions
Before you start selling on Trading Card Auctions, please carefully review the following Do’s and Don’ts regarding intellectual property:
Do’s
- Do educate yourself about intellectual property.
- Do educate yourself about counterfeiting.
- Do ensure your product listings don’t violate the intellectual property rights of others.
- Do ensure product listings are counterfeit free.
- Do ensure you sell authentic and genuine goods.
- Do ensure you write a truthful and accurate title and description of your product.
- Do ensure you take your own product listing pictures.
- Do ensure you have the authorization to sell branded items.
- Do ensure you have proof of purchase/invoice if you want to resell products.
- Do ensure you have purchased your products from a legitimate source (if you are reselling your products).
Don’ts
- Don’t violate the intellectual property rights of others.
- Don’t sell counterfeit, fake, and/or knock off products.
- Don’t copy other merchants’ product listings.
- Don’t use a person’s image found on the internet, used in a third-party catalog, or used in another merchant’s image to list your product.
- Don’t use images of celebrities or famous models in your product listing.
- Don’t use a person’s name, image, likeness, or other identifiable characteristics in your listing.
- Don’t sell patented products.
- Don’t use another’s trademark in your listing without obtaining proper authorization or having proof of purchase (e.g., an invoice).
- Don’t stuff your listing with trademarked keywords for search optimization.
- Don’t use deceptive or untruthful keywords to attract customers.
- Don’t use Trading Card Auction’s brand to advance your merchant store.
- Don’t report allegedly infringing listings if you are not a rights owner or an authorized representative acting on its behalf.
What is a trademark?
A trademark is a word, symbol, phrase, design, color, or other feature that identifies and legally differentiates the source of goods or services of one entity from those of another. Some examples of trademarks are brand names, logos, and slogans.
Trademarks generally are meant to protect consumers from being confused as to the source of a particular good or service, though they also can serve to ensure the exclusive use or protect the value of companies’ own brands in the marketplace. Once acquired, the trademark gives the trademark owner the exclusive right to use the mark within a certain scope and it allows the owner to prevent others from using a confusingly similar mark.
Trademarks may be registered with each jurisdiction’s regional trademark office.
What is a copyright?
A copyright is a legal right granted to the creator of an original work. A copyright protects original works of authorship that are “fixed” in some permanent or semi-permanent medium. It can cover everything from literary works to artistic works, music to movies, architectural designs to computer software, and various other works of authorship. The duration of copyrights depends on several factors, including when the original work was created, where, and by whom.
What is the right of publicity?
The right of publicity prohibits the unauthorized, commercial use of an individual’s name, likeness, or other recognizable aspects of his or her persona. The right of publicity protects people’s personas from being misused in product listings and other forms of advertisements.
In some locations, these rights expire upon the death of the individual. However, in others these may continue for some time post-mortem. The laws regarding these rights are specific to the locations in which the person lived, died, and/or had other connections.
Note that listings depicting famous models or celebrities, or even people who may not be well known, are not allowed without their specific permission.