After news that Tiffany company was taking eBay to court over counterfeit goods, it’s now the software industry telling eBay that it needs to do more to detect and delete listings for counterfeit goods–or else.
I took the liberty to validate such claims by browsing through the many software titles offered at eBay, and to my surprise its worst than you think. I contacted a seller to ask if the software was genuine because the price was 80% less than the retail version. The seller replied with “It’s a copy with the CD key and I guarantee the software”.
According to Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA), a Washington, D.C., trade association that counts companies such as Intuit, Sun Microsystems, and Red Hat as board members, said on Thursday that it’s contemplating a lawsuit against eBay. Another option, the group said, would be lobbying Congress to rewrite the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and make online auctioneers liable for what’s sold.
“Their refusal to work with us will only push us closer and closer to a lawsuit,” Keith Kupferschmid, SIIA’s senior vice president for intellectual property policy and enforcement, said in an interview.
Kupferschmid said the SIIA has offered at least 20 suggestions to eBay listing ways it can aid the software industry in curbing the sale of pirated software. Among the suggestions: not allowing the “Buy It Now” option on software; placing a notice in a user’s feedback if they have been caught selling pirated software; adding a delay on software auctions so they can be reviewed; and permitting the SIIA to run a paid ad on the Web site telling eBay visitors about the risk of buying pirated software.
“They just say no,” Kupferschmid said. “We’ve never been given any rationale.”
I agree, something definitely needs to be done about pirated software and other fraudulent goods on ebay. Not only is it unfair to the makers of the original goods, but it is also unfair to other eBay user’s who are trying to make some money (or, in some cases, a living) off of ebay. Pirated software just pushes the prices down…making it more difficult to sell things at a fair price.
I stopped using eBay when they raised their fees because it was simply no longer profitable. I’m *considering* returning to eBay to sell some of the merchandise from my CafePress store but I haven’t decided if it is worth the hassle.
eBay used to have such a great image. But if they don’t clean up their act and start acting like they care, about both their users and the law, I think they are going to wind up losing their appeal.
Nichole Kudos! You hit the nail on the head. eBay should have learned from the past two suits against them, but sometimes 3 is the charm.
BINGO! ebay needs to be held liable for this stuff… I remember years ago when it got started and the whole idea was to give the little guy a way to make money… then they sold out and now it is just a bunch of crap… Third party sellers, and spammers… it makes any honest hard working persaon just want to give up on the site.