So, this whole situation is just weird. I had a listing up on Ebay selling a Legends scale Iron Factory Heat Death figure (Transmetal 2 Megatron). I just recieved an email today from Ebay stating that the listing was removed due to Hasbro Inc. reporting it.
For the listing title, I did put Megatron in it. It was written as follows:
Iron Factory EX-42 Heat Death (TM2 Megatron) (excellent condition, read descrip)
In the message, this was the reasoning behind the removal of the listing:
- Your listing was reported by Hasbro Inc. for using their brand name inappropriately. eBay’s Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) program offers intellectual property owner(s) a way to report listings that they believe infringe on their rights
- Brand names cannot be used in listings if the product isn’t manufactured by, or compatible with, that brand. You may use "compatible with", "fits", or "for" before a brand name, if the item described is specifically designed to be compatible with the products of that brand
-- Using a trademark owner's logos without permission is not allowed.
- If you believe a mistake has been made, you will need to contact the rights owner directly. If the rights owner approves your appeal, please have them contact us directly to reinstate your listing(s)
You can send an email to:
brandprotection@mm-hasbro.com
So is Hasbro going to start going after small sellers on Ebay and other sites for selling 3rd Party products that use the actual name of the character? This seems so petty. They're acting as if I'm a large retail chain selling multiple products that use their branding. The other odd thing is that there are other listings on Ebay for the exact same figure which also use the name Megatron in their title and they haven't been removed.
Regardless, this is very weird. Has anyone else run into this problem before? Makes you think is Hasbro going to start shutting down websites that sell 3rd Party Transformers etc.
