Copyright infringement claim

[bere3774]

I have had 10 Sowerby glass company catalogues that date from 1874 to 1927 removed from ebay stating that the copyright of the items belongs to someone else. These catalogues on ebay are all copies I have made from original catalogues that I own.

The original company went out of business in 1957, the factory was taken over by Suntex Safety Glass Industries Limited in 1957 this company carried on producing glass before finally closing in 1972. I believe that the person who complained has a web site that has quite a few glass catalogues including similar catalogues of the same date as mine on display. I suspect that they are planning to sell copies of their catalogues hence this false accusation against me just to get rid of the competition. According to this persons web site they basically did a clearance a couple of years ago and that is where they acquired their catalogues and  other items from. It looks to me that they are trying to wrongly claim copyright for what they have.

Can any one just contact ebay and say I own the copyright remove this listing.

Also is there anyway I can discuss this with ebay because there would be no point in me contacting the person who made this complaint for the reasons above.

[*vyolla*]

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@bere3774 wrote:

Can any one just contact ebay and say I own the copyright remove this listing.

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No, they would have to be a verified rights owner in order to get your listing removed, or a solicitor representing the copyright owner(s) has been in touch with eBay.

[plpmr]

"I believe that the person who complained has a web site that has quite a few glass catalogues including similar catalogues of the same date as mine on display. I suspect that they are planning to sell copies of their catalogues hence this false accusation against me just to get rid of the competition. "

You could be right regarding getting rid of the competition especially if they were properly registered as a business seller paying fees, as opposed to your no fees registration.  

[rainbowtrax]

@bere3774 There's no way to discuss it with ebay. If it's a VeRO takedown then they will just direct you to the rights owner who reported your listings. You may be right that it's a competitor wrongly claiming copyright ownership but there's little you can do really. As it stands, you don't own the copyright either so you haven't got a leg to stand on as, from a legal viewpoint, owning a printed item doesn't allow you to reproduce and sell copies.

Whatever you do, don't relist the removed items as your account is on ebay's radar now and repeated listing removals quickly lead to account closure by ebay. Are all the scripts you have listed also copies that you've printed yourself? If they are, they could also cause you problems and some of the rights holders for those will be major companies. Not trying to scaremonger, just a heads up if that's what they are as a lot of those companies don't cut any slack when upholding their IP rights.