The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) provides certain safe harbors for companies engaged in online commerce (ecommerce). eBay has developed a program known as its Verified Rights Owner program (VeRO) to comply with the DMCA safe harbors and to help protect the copyrights of companies, whose products are offered for sale over eBay. Although the DMCA applies to copyrights only, eBay’s VeRO program includes patent, trademark, and other rights.

Some have complained that eBay’s auctions are plagued with counterfeit goods One way a trademark brand owner can protect its trademarks and prevent trademark counterfeiting is to avail itself of eBay’s VeRO program. Counterfeit goods bearing counterfeit trademarks are too often offered for sale by unscrupulous sellers to unwitting buyers and in violation of the brand owners’ trademark rights. But eBay’s VeRO procedure allows the trademark owner to provide notice of a suspected infringing counterfeit product. eBay will likely remove an item, thereby canceling an auction or listing, typically within 24 hours of receiving a VeRO brand owner’s notice of infringement. Under that process, the seller may file a counter notice and if accepted, eBay requires the owner to file suit within 10 days or the listing will be reinstated. The eBay VeRO procedure thus provides an effect process for trademark owners to stop trademark counterfeiting. The VeRo procedure is substantially the same for alleged violations of copyrights and patent rights.  The VeRo program is one example of what brand owners can use to mount an effective anti-counterfeiting enforcement program.

Recently, a court decided in a lawsuit against eBay by Tiffany that eBay could not be held liable for counterfeit Tiffany® products sold on eBay. The court reached this conclusion in part because eBay took reasonable steps to cancel auctions for counterfeit products when it learned of them. eBay’s VeRO program is one of the ways eBay can police its auctions and protect intellectual property rights, including trademark, copyright, and patent rights.

Klemchuk LLP is an Intellectual Property (IP), Technology, Internet, and Business law firm located in Dallas, TX.  The firm offers comprehensive legal services including litigation and enforcement of all forms of IP as well as registration and licensing of patents, trademarks, trade dress, and copyrights.  The firm also provides a wide range of technology, Internet, e-commerce, and business services including business planning, formation, and financing, mergers and acquisitions, business litigation, data privacy, and domain name dispute resolution.  Additional information about the IP law firm and its IP law attorneys may be found at www.klemchuk.com.

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