J.K. Rowling Finally Beats EBay
Harry Potter E-Books to Be Removed from EBay's Website
Sellers have been using the Indian version of eBay to sell pirated copies of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books. Most Harry Potter fans would immediately know that these are fake copies because J.K. Rowling has made it very clear that she is not going to release e-books. Yet e-books were being sold on eBay's Indian website.
After all her problems with eBay, J.K. Rowling is finally making some progress. J.K. Rowling entered a lawsuit against the auction giant in hopes of ridding eBay's website of e-book copies of her Harry Potter novels. Again, eBay claimed they shouldn't have to look over auctions being posted to their website, but this time the courts said that they did, at least until May 23rd when the case will go back to court. This is a huge win for J.K. Rowling, but what does this mean for eBay?
EBay will now have to take a closer look at auctions and remove any auctions that contain illegal copies of J.K. Rowling's books. If eBay doesn't succeed in doing this, they will be in contempt of the court. Since J.K. Rowling has won her case, other big companies, such a Tiffany's of New York City will, more than likely, do more to make sure eBay does the same for them.
While many people might say eBay shouldn't be held responsible, others feel differently. EBay, after all, makes a profit from every auction. This means they are making money off of fake copies of books, DVDs, and everything else imaginable. As more companies come forward, eBay may be forced to make changes and do everything possible to prevent future sales of fake merchandise. This means that not only has J.K. Rowling won, but buyers around the world have won as well.
This may hurt eBay right now, but consumers may see their website as more reliable in the future. After all, many people have avoided eBay simply because of the amount of fake merchandise they allow sellers to put up for auction.
Sources:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1437673.ece
www.mugglenet.com
www.jkrowling.com
Published by Amy Brantley - Featured Contributor in Lifestyle
A passionate writer who specializes in food-related content and has hopes of changing the way people think about cooking. Has published over a thousand pieces of food-related content. Amy is available for wr... View profile
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36 Comments
Post a CommentGreat article. Well done!
It's interesting though that this is such a problem. Recently, I bought resale rights online to sell some ebooks and when I posted them online, I got flagged by some user (personally, I think it was another ebook seller) and they took my posting down and threatened to ban me from ebay if I got caught doing it again. I had to write to ebay and to the company where I bought the resale rights and then had to put a special disclaimer into the listings saying that I was an authorized seller. So, I think that there are people who DO pay attention and flag inappropriate items and eBay DOES take action against those claims. It is unfortunate that genuine sellers will probably get mixed up with bootleg sellers.
While it's wrong to sell fake merchandise, eBay shouldn't be held liable. The people who are doing the selling should be prosecuted. As one other person mentioned, ebay does not see the merchandise, so how do they know whether it's real or not. The only thing they would be able to track would be the e-books, since they are obvious fakes, but what about books in print? How are they to know whether what a seller has at their house is what they say it is? The fault should lie in the seller. All this lawsuit will do is drive up costs for people who have done nothing wrong, the innocent buyers and sellers.
This was a great article. It really makes you think.
I just want to point out that this is J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers we're talking about. Money is not an issue. J.K. Rowling is actually richer than the Queen. She's a billionaire. She only wants to do what is right.
If nothing else, this will probably result in another raise in listing and selling fees, as eBay will require more staff to execute this.
This is a terrible development, as it is going to hurt many people who sell on eBay with further regulation. In response to some of the other comments on this, eBay ISN'T selling stolen goods, only the individual sellers are. This is a standard that newspaper classifieds, craigslist.com, and many other selling methods have never had to regulate. This just seems to be yet another instance of our sue happy world, in which someone goes after a "big dog" instead of the people actually breaking the law. I think they just have dollar signs in their eyes. The only people who should suffer are the bootleggers themselves.
Great info and great story!
Good story, Amy.
All of the sellers, including the honest ones, will ultimately pay if Ebay has to take added measures for Ebay will just jack-up fees. Interesting article!
This is very good! I think that this will change things for the better.
Many people get ripped off from buying fake stuff that is free in other places.
She made a really good move.