Copyright

Hi Rookie
I am new here but not on eBay
You are looking at a minefield & a very expensive one if you get it wrong.

You will get most of the info actually on ebay, or copyright site

> How can I make it possible to use company logo's of the product we are selling,
Ask them first, very important, if they say no ,that it!!

>Or maybe even some pictures of the product from the company web site?

The Same goes if you are using it commercially
ie To make a profit!!

If you did not design the material involved, the person who did, owns the copyright, or the company themselves.o/w they can & do sue.
Often informed by others through the VERO programme or sites like FACT

Copyright is valid for most things for between 50 to 70 years after the death of the copyright owner[ depending on what it is ]

But again copyright can be sold on as Micheal Jackson owning the Beatles stuff
I hope this helps, you can use nothing commercially without their permission

As i said, plenty sites explaning it all, often in great detail
I hope this helps
Ron

Here's another thing. If you ask for permission and receive no response, that's considered a "No," from the legal perspective. You must receive an actual "Yes" (often with restrictions).

2purrcats

Do you have a decent quality digital camera? Why not just take some pictures of the product yourself? A photo setup can be as inexpensive as a piece of white poster board, 2 or 3 cheap, commercial clamp-on lights from Home Depot, and some "daylight" bulbs (like GE Reveal, or something like that). Add to that, an inexpensive photo-editing suite (which usually comes with the camera). That's my basic photo setup (with the addition of Adobe Photoshop Elements), and my pics look great.

Hi
As the reply from biscuit
You need to really disregaurd this advice

If you are doing this commercially, ie to make a profit, my advice is dont!
Eventually you will be found out

There are many reports sent in weekly to copyright officials asked for advice, i think already knowing its wrong

So be rightly advised by myself & 2purrcats

Plus new EU laws as in the site "foundation for information policy research " ALSO CHECK OUT-"Professional Photographer Association " -F.A.C.T, Plus many other orghanisations.

I know it is tempting , they will never find out? is it worth the risk of not hundreds, but usually thousands of pounds
The decision is yours
Regards
ron

quote:

Originally posted by ron81:
Hi
As the reply from biscuit
You need to really disregaurd this advice

Which advice? Mine?

Hi biscuit

It would appear so

biscuit,

I'm confused too. It is not a violation of copyright laws to take your own photographs of items you are selling - unless the laws have changed and I missed it.

2purrcats

Hi 2purrcats & biscuit

This is what was asked
I agree it does not go into much detail, i expect for obvious reasons

>How can I make it possible to use company logo's of the product we are selling, [ we are selling, note we are selling, ] and place it on our listing?

You need to ask, as has already been said!!

It is the companies logo, or trademark,most are registered as copyright,this is the main feature of any company, try using Macdonalds or Disney's logo or trademark without their permission!!

The inference is on [ a product we are selling ]

That does not sound like a picture of DANDY ANNUAL ON eBAY to me, i might be wrong?

So they want to sell their product, with the correct companies logo on it, this is how it appears to me & how i read it

Would that not be forgery & copyright theft?
Why would they they want a companies logo on something THEY were selling!

Also they ask > Or maybe even some pictures of the product from the company web site

What a hard neck, actually contemplating stealing pictures from a websire, that is why many company pictures have a disabled right click, it is theft

Also not forgetting the company has paid for these pictures,& not by someone like this Do you have a decent quality digital camera?

Often costs many thousands, probably by a firm that even possibly retains the c/r its self, or a shre in it!! as part of the contract
As i said a mine field

Under the circumstances the question was asked this is the correct reply

Unless of course the original poster wants to add more to this statement & really tells us what his plans to do are?
ron

quote:

Originally posted by ron81:
Hi biscuit

It would appear so

This is the portion of the original poster's question that I was addressing:

quote:

Or maybe even some pictures of the product from the company web site?

There's nothing at all wrong with taking your own pictures of a product you are selling, and using said pictures to sell those products, and there's no need for me to ask the company if this is OK. In fact, those pictures then become MY intellectual property.

Man, if it was illegal, there would be a whole heck of a lot of eBay sellers in trouble.

>In fact, those pictures then become MY intellectual property.You are speaking tripe
Do you actually know what it is

Like in its on the net so its free & available, i dont think so

intellectual property STARTS HERE
Photographs have the same term of protection as all other artistic works. Therefore, the term of protection is generally life of the author (generally the photographer) plus 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the author dies.

Where is your intellectual property rights here?

Unknown Authorship
If, however, the photograph is of unknown authorship, the copyright term is:

70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the photograph was made (i.e. taken); or,
70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the photograph is made available to the public if this happens during the period of 70 years from making. etc etc

if i can copy this information for you, you can look yourself

Copyright applies to any medium. This means that you must not reproduce copyright protected work in another medium without permission. This includes, publishing photographs on the internet, making a sound recording of a book, and so on.
A trade mark protects any sign or symbol that allows your customers to tell you apart from your competitors. You can register a name, logo, slogan, domain name, shape, colour or sound.
There are groups daily taking people to court

So You are telling me, if i took a picture & copyrighted it, you have intellectual property rights over it, if you wish, or because it is on the net
Try that
See ya in court.

>There's nothing at all wrong with taking your own pictures of a product you are selling
Aye wrong again

You are obviously an expert!
so i will leave you with your expert advice

I just hope no one acts on it
I really cannot be bothered replying to those who's legal knowledge stretches as far as ebay etc

My adviCe, go to any site regarding copyright, check out the companies that investigate,& learn

For easy reading try here UK-IPO home page

Yes i have material that is copyrighted, it also costs me to do so

I have other things to do, than argue with someone, who knows very little on the subject
You should change you name

Bye

Hi ron81,

I'm not trying to argue, nor am I claiming to be an expert. There's no need to - my goal was to give helpful advice to the original poster.

I did not at all say that it was OK to take pictures from the companies website and use them as your own. I agree with you that this is indeed theft, and should not be done.

However, it is perfectly OK to take your own pictures of a branded product, and use them on eBay:

From eBay:

quote:

eBay Guideline:

No Copying Allowed! When you prepare your listings you should use only material (text, photographs, etc.) and trademarks/names that you created or own yourself, or have licensed from the owners.

quote:

eBay Guideline:

No Confusing Listings! If you are selling a brand name product, you can probably show a picture of the product and refer to the company by name, but you cannot do so in such a way that it suggests that your auction is approved, sponsored or endorsed by the manufacturer.

http://pages.ebay.in/help/policies/copyrights.html

So eBay specifically allows this, in most cases. eBay says "probably" to take into account members of VERO who do indeed reserve the right to take down your listing. However, all other instances are perfectly fine.

If the poster is going to be selling a particular product on a regular basis, and he is at all concerned, then he can, by all means, check with the manufacturer, or with eBay to ensure that it is OK to list the item. All other things being equal, however, he is free to take his own pics, and use them to sell his items on eBay.

The UK-IPO website that you reference only refers to photographs that were taken by someone else, not ones that you take yourself.

Hi all - Ebay is very clear in its discussion of this topic as it relates to the online auction/listing process. The taking of YOUR OWN photos is SPECIFICALLY allowed. To state that it is illegal flies in the face of common sense. Are sellers supposed to only have written descriptions without ANY pictures? Then every seller in every online marketplace must be breaking the law if they show a picture of what they're selling!

Let's get real here, someone on this thread needs to take a breath and actually read what the other posters are saying, do some better research, and stop putting out this really bad info.


exerpts from eBay:

Guidelines for Creating Legally Compliant Listings

Create your own listing content:

You should avoid "borrowing" text or images (including photos) from other listings on eBay, a manufacturer's web site, product catalogs, or other sources without specific permission from the owner. Contrary to popular belief, simply because images and text may be found somewhere on the Internet does not necessarily mean that they are not protected by copyright laws. Copyright laws apply to the Internet, and manufacturers or other copyright owners may object to the use of text or images that they own or have created.
You should write your own descriptive text for your listing, and take your own photos.

If you are selling a brand name product, you can mention the brand name in your listing and include an image that depicts the product you are selling.



A more respectful tone with a little less arrogance might be in order here as well. We are not idiots because we happen to disagree, just as NO ONE in this discussion is an expert.

I think that perhaps when I said "taking pictures", he thought that I meant copying them, or taking them off of a company website. I only mean shooting original photos of the product with your own camera.

Perhaps just a misunderstanding.

You are being very kind. I thought your meaning was quite clear; and so did he, just re-read his post. Even a "misunderstanding" should be met with civility. Enough said.

Hi
Sorry for the length of this

I apologise if i was rude,very honoured to have a reply from Nevada though, albeit incorrect

This is what the original poster said

>How can I make it possible to use company logo's of the product we are selling, and place it on our listing? Or maybe even some pictures of the product from the company web site?
Thanks!

Biscuit stated >I think that perhaps when I said "taking pictures", he thought that I meant copying them, or taking them off of a company website

Exactly,I did , as i was answering the question originally put, i also answered the question of logos or trademarks

Again i apologise to biscuit if i was rude, we are all human & make mistakes
Yes i am sorry for that & i make no excuses for doing so, possibly used to the rudeness on many of the community pages on the UK site
Again no excuse

To ninth_wave .Once again i will say , it is illegal to use any companies logo or trade mark, it is also illegal to take pictures from any companines web site, it is theft

You cannot answer only one part of the question asked because it comes in total

Also as i said try to use a Disney product on your page, or MacDoanlds, notr many other companies,the sentence " desend like a ton of bricks come to mind"

I make no excuse for being correct in this matter.

Once again i hear eBay laws quoted, eBay quoted on Guidelines for Creating Legally Compliant Listings

It is said, only Guide lines, possibly a difference on UK law as regards US law, i dont know & dont stay in the USA.

eBay is an Auction company & as such has a grasp of law, that suits them, or applies to them as an auction company, as most auction companies do, as

Recently when a very valuable picture was placed for sale by an auction company, the owner had to fight to prove ownership of it, the company accepted face value, always a dangerous situation.

eBays reply is not authoritive, nor is it a totally correct one legally, it is a guide line , as with everything within eBay, it is up to the VERO or trade mark holder to complain,

eBay does not do this of its own back, nor does eBay police its own site very well

There are thousands of forgeries on eBay, well in the UK in any case, you only have to read the community page to find this out & go though the auctions

I expect now as UK sales do not show up on the UK site so readily, you now have all the chinese [ plus other scammers]we have had for years

eBays answer as re guide lines are exactly that, guide lines.

It would be nearly impossible for them, or a seller to list everything legally about an article

As they say, if you have a suspicion, report it

It is not a definative answer.they are guide lines

That is why forgeres are allowed to be sold on eBay, in great numbers & often their reluctence to remove them, often sold through power sellers as well, i can only quote within the the UK, i do not pretend to have knowledge of the USA nor its laws

I do know however, as the original poster asked, it is illegal to use logs or trade marks without their permission

If you are accepting that it is legal [ this is what the orginal poster asked ] to do so, you do yourself a great injustice

If i have copyright of a picture the copyright is mine to do with as i require, i can ask for it to be removed, i trust you agree with that!

Newpapers pay a annual fee, as do other magazines through a copy right company that allows them access to do so.

Even Churches have to pay a copyright fee on showing hymns on an overhead, on the same basis.

I again say , legally you cannot use anything & every thing YOU want, in the way you want

Every picture on a companies website has an owner, if i take a picture & copyright it, it belongs to me

If i write an article & copyright it, it belongs to me

I would of done all the hard work & preparation, do you really think you have a right to do with it what you want?

You also omitted this information on >eBay Guideline: seeing as you wish to quote them

The fact that material is posted on the Internet does not mean it is in the "public domain" or otherwise free to be taken, copied or used by others. Creators of Internet content probably have copyright, trademark and other rights in the material they create. Copying, modifying and possibly linking to content created by others could expose you to legal liability.

Also >eBay Guideline:
Copying is not permitted: when you prepare your listings you generally should use only material (text, photographs, etc.) and trademarks/names that you created or own yourself or licensed from the owners.

>or licensed from the owners.
and trademarks/names that you created or own yourself or licensed from the owners.

>What is a copyright?
A copyright is the protection given to certain original works of authorship including text, pictures, music, etc. The owner of a copyright holds the exclusive right to duplicate, distribute and create derivative works from his work.
Listings often contain text, photographs and the names/trademarks of companies.
The text and photographs that you create and use in your listings may be protected by copyright laws.

If you copy someone else's listing, or copy text or photographs from any other place (depending upon how much is copied), you may be infringing someone's copyright. They may be able to request the ending of your auction through our Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Programme.

Here are some examples of potentially infringing auctions:

You scan a photograph of Elvis Presley (without permission) to use in a listing in which you are selling an authentic autograph of Elvis Presley

You copy someone else's listing text and (without permission) paste it into your own listing to sell the same item (making slight modifications to the text may not relieve you of liability if it is substantially similar to the original text.)

You copy the URL of a photograph appearing on a golf club manufacturer's website or another member's listing so that the photograph appears in your listing (without permission).

Now read below & see how eBay keep themselves in the clear, especially the word " probably" which really has no basis in law

eBay Guideline:
Make your listings clear: if you're selling a brand-name product, you can probably show a picture of the product and refer to the company by name, but you cannot do so in such a way that it suggests that your listing is approved, sponsored or endorsed by the manufacturer.

Also, you must be careful not to sell products which bear the brand name of a company that didn't make the product.
Now if that is not a conflict of guidelines, what is
May i politely request you read from the following sites
Copyright Licensing Agency (United Kingdom)
The Creators' Copyright Coalition
Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society
UK legislation
Mechanical Copyright Protection Society

I stand by my answer as asked by the original poster
Kind Regards
ron

quote:

Originally posted by ron81:
I do know however, as the original poster asked, it is illegal to use logs or trade marks without their permission

If you are accepting that it is legal [ this is what the orginal poster asked ] to do so, you do yourself a great injustice

If i have copyright of a picture the copyright is mine to do with as i require, i can ask for it to be removed, i trust you agree with that!

I think everyone's on the same page with the above statements, ron.

Your initital response was of course correct as far as advising the original poster that he should not use copyrighted pictures or logos from a company website without their permission.

This community forum is here for the express purpose of giving advice. There's no need to get into petty arguments, because we're all here to help each other. In fact, I think you'll find very few, if any, regular posters here who are antagonistic or confrontational in their posting style.

My post was not meant to contradict anything that you said, only to offer the original poster an acceptable alternative to using copyrighted material.

That being said, I think we can put all of this behind us and call things square.

Thanks for your acceptance of my apology
I must try & stay away from Community Question & Answer board

I was antagonistic or confrontational

It must be catching, it is obvious this board is a tad more civilised
Regards
Ron

No need to stay away Ron. This board is for everyone - you are always welcome here.

Thank you
Its been a learning curve,
Ron

Usually you can dress up auction with company logo of brand your selling without problems. I and many friends have done it for many years. It may be technically copywrited, but if your product is legitimately that brand, I've never seen anyone complain. We'll stop if anyone complains, but till then.....