Sellers listing any type of recordable media must state their copyright ownership or licence to resell these items in their listings and be able to prove it to eBay.
Activity on eBay is required to follow this policy, the eBay User Agreement and all applicable laws, as well as respect the rights of third parties. If it doesn’t, eBay may take action consistent with applicable laws and the eBay User Agreement, and may even be legally required to do so. Such actions may include, as an example only: Removing the listing or other content, issuing a warning, restricting activity or account suspension.
Some Examples
The following are examples of items that may not be listed on eBay:
- Music compilations on CD-R
- The entire first season of a television series on one DVD-R
- Compilation of 500 "freeware" and "shareware" programs on one CD-R
- A VHS copy of a movie taped off of television
- CD-Rs containing scanned pages from a book, magazine, manual or other copyrighted written materials that were not written by the seller
The following example illustrates a specific situation:
- A local band decides to release its latest album on CD-R. The band may list the album on eBay as long as the listing states that the seller is the copyright owner, and the seller is prepared to prove this to eBay.
- A buyer purchases an album on eBay that was released by a local band on CD-R. The buyer may not list the album on eBay, even though the band released the album on CD-R, because the buyer is not the copyright owner.
Additional Information
For more information, see the following source:
- Copyright Act 1987
Why does eBay have this policy?
The sale of unauthorised copies of copyrighted items is illegal as well as against eBay policy. This policy helps protect buyers from purchasing illegal merchandise, and helps intellectual property rights owners protect their rights.