Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Someone is illegally selling my plans on eBay.

Several years ago (i.e. 2002) I designed and built a drafting table and posted the instructions and drawings on my website, free to download. Earlier this month someone brought it to my attention that some douchetard from Hollow Rock, Tennessee is selling a pdf of my plans on eBay:

http://tinyurl.com/ydpkdqg

I sent a Notice of Copyright Infringement to eBay and a message to tabd123. Here's the exchange so far:

From: petersen1973
To: tabd123
Subject: You've received a message from an eBay member
Sent Date: Dec-16-09 10:27:44 PST


Dear tabd123,
I am the copyright owner of the drafting table plans that you are selling on this site, in violation of U.S. Copyright Law. I am sending a Notice of Copyright Infringement to eBay and am considering legal action against you.
- petersen1973

From: tabd123
To: petersen1973
Subject: You've received a message from an eBay member
Sent Date: Dec-16-09 10:55:14 PST


Dear petersen1973,
i went and search yr plans on net and the plans that are here www.petersenart.com/drafting_table_20071113.pdf
are not the plans im selling,as a matter of fact my booklet has a ISBN number that is well documented.yr copyright has 2007 on it i have been selling these over 5 years now.
- tabd123

From: petersen1973
To: tabd123
Subject: You've received a message from an eBay member
Sent Date: Dec-16-09 11:09:12 PST


Dear tabd123,
The pdf on my site is a modified, updated version of the original plans I made in 2002, to which I still own the copyright. I still have the original 3D models and high-resolution rendered images. The text in your advertisement is taken verbatim from my previous html files, and the image in your posting is identical to my original as well.
- petersen1973


From: tabd123
To: petersen1973
Subject: You've received a message from an eBay member
Sent Date: Dec-16-09 11:22:55 PST


Dear petersen1973,
u seem to be giving away yr plans anyways not sure what yr argument is that u are losing something.one could still sell yr plans legaly and mearly charge a fee for printing them out and shipping them,as long as they still gave aurther the credit for writing.
- tabd123

Dear tabd123,
That is incorrect, and the fact that I'm not selling my plans is beside the point. You are making a profit from selling someone else's intellectual property. Copyright ownership means the intellectual property may not be mass-distributed or sold without the owner's written consent under any circumstances, profit or no profit. I gave you no such consent, and you are therefore in violation of the law.
- petersen1973

1 comment:

Teresa said...

What response did you get from eBay?