The Wholesale Forums

[weatherman]

Hi

I was selling some PC cables via amazon marketplace not as much business as eBay but got the odd order.

Then i got an email from the products 'main' selller which read:

You have chosen to list on a product of which we are the intellectual property owners and we have not given you or anyone else permission to sell on this listing. Please remove the listing within 48hrs or we will do it forcibly by getting Amazon to remove it for us. This could seriously affect your amazon account. We have zero tolerance on this matter and although we accept you may have been unaware of such infringement policy in place on Amazon now that we have told you of this breach we will not accept any further breaches or delays in the removal of your advert on our listing and will take the matter further if required should it happen again or if the listing is still active after 48hrs. Please remove the listing immediately and no further action will be taken by us.

Well to be on the safe side I took down my listing as I don't want my account suspended. I'm pretty sure you can't claim intellectual property rights on a cable so as I right to take it down or should I raise this with amazon??

[TAP]

They most likely don't own the IP rights to the cable. They probably pay for bar codes to list items on Amazon; and don't want other sellers listing against their listings.

If it's a generic cable and you're looking to do serious long term business on Amazon, you're better off getting your own bar codes and uploading your own listings.

[TTL]

We've just started listing on Amazon and used existing listings for all of our products.

Unless the cable is really special, it seems unlikely that they can have the IP rights to it.

Have you considered taking it up with Amazon? This may affect their account if they are intimidating you without justification. By removing your listing you have acted in good faith, so I wouldn't imagine they could penalise you. After all, you're just ensuring fair play.

Not 100% if this is the best / right way of going about it, but it's what I'd do.

Good luck with it.

[hardwareheroes]

if they own the bar code, they own the IP qs far as amazon is concerned - you will not win - give up and list yourown

[TTL]

Originally Posted by hardwareheroes

if they own the bar code, they own the IP qs far as amazon is concerned - you will not win - give up and list yourown

That would make sense.

I assume that if we were talking about a branded product, no seller (apart from the manufacturer of course) could ever use the same tactics? If so, how?

[studio1one]

TTL, you are right this can't happen with branded products, unless the manafacturer chooses to have their products not sold through amazon.

[YNWA]

Ask Amazon if they can do that.

Found this:

4. Amazon's Role. Amazon provides a platform for third-party sellers ("Sellers") and buyers ("Buyers") to negotiate and complete transactions. Amazon is not involved in the actual transaction between Sellers and Buyers and is not the agent of and has no authority for either for any purpose. As a Seller, you may list any item on the Site unless it is a prohibited item as defined in the procedures and guidelines contained in the Help section, or otherwise prohibited by law. Without limitation, you may not list any item or link or post any related material that (a) infringes any third-party intellectual property rights (including copyright, trademark, patent, and trade secrets) or other proprietary rights (including rights of publicity or privacy); (b) constitutes libel or slander or is otherwise defamatory; or (c) is counterfeited, illegal, stolen, or fraudulent. It is up to the Seller to accurately describe the item for sale . As a Seller, you use the Site and the Services at your own risk.

And...

20. Your Grant. By entering into this Participation Agreement and listing an item, you grant us a royalty-free, non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use, reproduce, perform, display, distribute, adapt, modify, re-format, create derivative works of, and otherwise commercially or non-commercially exploit in any manner, any and all of the content you submit to Amazon and its affiliates, and to sublicense the foregoing rights to our affiliates and operators of any website or other online point of presence (other than the Site) through which the Site and/or products or services available thereon are syndicated, offered, merchandised, advertised or described; provided, however, that we will not alter any of your trademarks (i.e., trademarks of yours that you provide to us in non-text form for branding purposes that are separate from and not embedded or otherwise incorporated in any product specific information or materials) from the form provided by you (except to re-size trademarks to the extent necessary for presentation, so long as the relative proportions of such trademarks remain the same) and will comply with your removal requests as to specific uses of your trademarks (provided you are unable to do so using standard functionality made available to you via the Site or Services); provided further, however, that nothing in this Participation Agreement will prevent or impair our right to use without your consent the content and any other materials provided by you, to the extent that such use is allowable without a license from you or your affiliates under applicable law (e.g., fair use under copyright law, referential use under trademark law, or valid license from a third party). You represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content you submit to Amazon and its affiliates, and that the use of such materials by Amazon and its affiliates will not infringe upon or violate the rights of any third party.

[YNWA]

Originally Posted by studio1one

TTL, you are right this can't happen with branded products, unless the manafacturer chooses to have their products not sold through amazon.

I think by listing on Amazon in the first place, irrespective of whether they own a bar code or the manufacturer of the item. By listing it on Amazon and agreeing to their policies, they waive the right to be a sole seller and other people have the right to list an item for sale.

[TTL]

Originally Posted by YNWA

I think by listing on Amazon in the first place, irrespective of whether they own a bar code or the manufacturer of the item. By listing it on Amazon and agreeing to their policies, they waive the right to be a sole seller and other people have the right to list an item for sale.

That's the way I read the two terms you listed.

Anyone got anything to contradict this?

[studio1one]

definitely not.

I have many items listed on Amazon that I have kicked people off for infringement. A quick fax to amazon explaining that we do not authorise reselling of this product and they're gone.