Listing violation

[egglesdtp]

A week ago, I listed an auction (on a different ID) for an 'Amazing Bullet' food prcessor/blender. It was purchased by my daughter some years ago and never used, and is still in its original box. The item generated a lot of interest - well over 100 views, about a dozen watchers and 5 bids.

This morning I received a Listing policy violation alert: Trademark Violation - Unauthorized Item email from ebay, and they have removed my listing.

The email stated that: "Your listing was removed after the rights owner notified us that your item infringes on their trademark rights".

Ebay's link to "What is trademark infringement?" states that Trademark infringement usually involves using someone's trademark on a good or service in a way that may confuse others about the source or affiliation of the goods or services.

How can my listing confuse anyone about the authenticity of my item? As far as I can work out, you cannot purchase the item from a B&M store - it is currently only available on ebay.uk and Amazon. My photos showed most sides of the original box.

Ebay's email further stated "We urge you to contact the rights owner directly for more information about why they requested the removal of your listing and whether you may relist the item".

I have contacted the rights owner via the email link supplied, but have yet to hear back.

The email also stated the rights owner has created an About Me page that "contains information to help you understand why removal of your listing was requested. For more information about the rights owner, please go to" (link removed) but the link just goes to a User ID Not Found page.

I have two questions - does this mean I cannot sell this item?

Are the people who have already placed bids notified of its withdrawal from sale? And why?

[5kazam]

Do you think it might be worth sitting on your hands for a couple of days until you get a reply to your email to the company.  Should you get the appropriate response that they do not own the 'rights' on this, you can get back to eBay, send them a copy of the company's response, and relisting shouldn't be a problem.  A little bit of patience here may pay dividends.

[digital*ghost]

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@egglesdtp wrote:

I'm really annoyed about this, as it is quite obvious that the so-called rights owner doesn't actually own the rights to the name Amazing Bullet. Just something similar.

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That's the point though, companies can pay quite a lot of money to trademark a name, or even patent a design, so that they can protect their intellectual property. Naming a similar product a similar name is an infringement, and such infringements are often expressly designed to effectively ride on the coat tails of other people's hard work and success. If it's an inferior product, and/or causes consumer confusion (eg the makers of Magic Bullet are getting warranty enquires etc re: Amazing Bullet), then they have certain rights.

It would be the same as if I bought a fake designer bag - I can't list it on eBay because it's illegal. I own it, but I can't do whatever I want with it because it could actually get me in trouble. Similar tradmarks and designs are one step down from out and out fakes, but I can guarantee you if I decided to make and market some building blocks and called them Leggoes, I'd be in trouble with two companies.

[egglesdtp]

I just wish there was some consistency. A search of current Australian listings shows 28 items under 'bullet blender' :

Magic Bullet complete 2

Magic Bullet parts 7

NutriBullet complete 1

either Magic or Amazing Bullet compatible parts 4

Baby Bullet 1

Baby Bullet parts 10

The Capital Brands website lists both Magic Bullet and Baby Bullet as among their brands, so why are the 28 listings that use either name allowed?

[digital*ghost]

I really don't know - I can't give any insight into the finer details concerning this particular product, as I haven't researched who holds what in terms of trademark etc, or the specific selling restrictions that are in place; I can only provide some of the possible reasons they objected to the listing, and some general information as to how / why these sorts of rules exist. 

Best thing to do is try to get a response from the company, they may not object to a listing under certain conditions (presuming they have used their Vero membership rights correctly). 

[5kazam]

Suggestion.  Are they Aust. UK or US?  See if you can find out what registered names the company has for its products.  If Amazing Bullet is not registered for that company, then they do not have a leg to stand on.  Similar names are not  acceptable.  If you haven't done so already, try to find out who has the registered name/trademark 'Amazing Bullet'.

Some homework before trying to relist anywhere is what I would recommend.

[digital*ghost]

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@5kazam wrote:

  If Amazing Bullet is not registered for that company, then they do not have a leg to stand on.  Similar names are not  acceptable. 

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If Amazing Bullet has been determined to be a trademark infringement, than yes they do have a leg to stand on. 

I just tried to search for "Amazing Bullet" on google to try and learn more about what the issues here could be. Without the quotation marks, all I go was results for Magic Bullet. When I used the quotation marks, the most interesting result was from a well-known Chinese wholesale site - they even use the "As seen on TV" tag that is used for products like Magic Bullet. 

[gec2002]

Here are the connections

A trademark for Amazing Bullet was filed by Craig Jones, on 6 October 2005, on 19 January 2006 the trademark was accepted, on 11 May 2006 the acceptance of the trademark was opposed by Homeland Housewares, LLC, on 25 May 2006 the opposition against this trademark was withdrawn (The opposition of Homeland Housewares, LLC against Jones, Craig has been withdrawn.) and on 25 May 2006 this trademark application was withdrawn.

Amazing Bullet with trademark number 1590463 was lodged on 08/11/2013 and has a status of Accepted - Awaiting Advertisement . The applicant/owner of the trademark is registered as David Bilanycz.  It probably has been approved by now.

The trademark for MAGIC BULLET was filed by Homeland Housewares, LLC. On 3 February 2005 this trademark was accepted and on 26 May 2005 this trademark was registered.

Homeland may not have had the trademark when you bought it.

Unfortunately you need very deep pockets to fight these things and companies know that, so they just ride roughshod over most individuals, because they know you can't afford to fight them even if you are in the right.

[digital*ghost]

Cheers for finding that info - I couldn't find any relating to the trademark for Amazing Bullet; nor even whether it was a registered brand name or company etc. 

[egglesdtp]

gec - I salute your googling skills as you got much further than I did when I tried to track down info on the Amazing Bullet.

On reflection, I think I will just relist the item as a 21-piece blender / mixer / juicer i.e. exactly the same title I used in the original listing minus the name of the product, and I will blank out all visible references to the name in my photos and remove any references in the description.

Does anyone see any issues with this approach?

[digital*ghost]

Homeland Housewares probably routinely conduct searches for the most common denominator(s) (those being bullet + blender etc).