Right after I sent this post to the list...it occurred to me that my friend  
may not have known to search the completed auctions on ebay. I went and 
searched  and sure enough, I found a another possible violation (and the item sold 
for @  $200).
 
E-mailed my friend and told her to consult with an attorney before  
contacting ebay or taking any other action. 
 
In order to search completed auctions further back than the 30 days -  
there's a separate service and fee for that, so she's going to have to do  this and 
find out if there have been any other auctions where this had been  done. 
 
Forgot to add that the page from her website is an article she wrote -the  
title, graphics she designed and some of the text is quite readable.  The 
seller's item description does not refer to the 'backdrop', so the seller  didn't 
even cite the article they photographed.
 
Pam
 
 
 
In a message dated 11/17/2005 11:35:24 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
PodunkLander writes:

Yesterday, a friend of mine expressed to me her concerns about a current  
ebay auction, in which a seller printed out a page from her website to use as  a 
'backdrop' for an item they are auctioning. ebay also automatically provides  
a copyright for photos that are presented in auctions.
 
Her website indicates that all content is subject to copyright law, etc.  

I advised her to contact ebay to request that they pull this auction  
immediately, and that the photo be removed from all subsequent auction  searches.
 
Had she not happened to see this, this photo would have been archived  
-whether the item sold or not. To make matters worse, the item is claimed to  be 
c.1600, Native American in origin and that it had been dug up from a site  years 
ago, and had previously been the property of the State of New  York.
 
I see two potential copyright infringements here and my friend's work  being 
used in association with an artifact that may or may not have been 'dug  up' 
legally. If these items were from a legit archaeological excavation and  had 
belonged to a state institution, I don't see how they could have fell into  
private hands like this.
 
Curious to know of your opinions  -Pam
 
 




 
Pamela Silvestri, Museum Assistant
Northeast States Civilian  Conservation Corps Museum
Shenipsit State Forest
166 Chestnut Hill  Road
Stafford Springs, Connecticut 06076
Telephone: (860)  684-3430
e-mail: [log in to unmask]

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