See link below, the use of wording is nothing short of disgusting. Genuine my a&&e. I sent them a message asking if it was a Vitra or Herman Miller chair seeing as it's 'genuine' but no reply (there's a surprise) maybe they guessed I was taking the mick. Selling knock offs is wrong, but selling them while trying to pass them off as the real deal is a joke.
That is bad...
However I find Retro Republic to be another repeat offender on eBay. Although at least they use "inspired by" in their titles, the furniture they produce is utter tat. Take a look at this Orgone "inspired" Coffee table they are flogging.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Orgone-Coffee-Table-Inspired-by-Marc-Newson-80s-90...
I'm so annoyed about the auct...
I'm so annoyed about the auction I posted I have actually reported to ebay and Vitra who may well be interested to learn about the license issues!
I agree it's all in the text and how they mislead, or are genuine in the fact it's a knock off. The wording on the auction I posted makes no effort in the main text to tell the 'buyer' the chairs a fake, and to make reference to the license holding etc is pretty serious.
Shameless - but the seller...
Shameless - but the seller is a 'powerseller' of the sort that Ebay like to cultivate at the expense of the 'hobby' sellers Ebay was founded on, hence they may well take no action. One day the big co's who's goods are pirated will finally sit up and sue Ebay into oblivion.
It surprises me...
that Vitra is not taking any action against this. Although in terms of intellectual property laws, most of there possibilities are expired. (It is typical for this kind of fraud not to mention the designers name in the text because that would still be couvered by copyright laws) In Europe common law prevents you from doing this. It has nothing to do with intellectual property legislation it is simply illegal to "mislead the consumer". Could it be possible that by concentrating on I.P. legislation both the real and fake licence holder overlooked common law?
Here's the UK from to report the listing
It appears neither Herman Miller or Vitra are part of eBay's Vero scheme though
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/contact_us/_base/index_4.html?item=&topic=i...
Huh.
I once listed a Plycraft lounge chair on ebay with the phrase "Eames era" in the title. Someone claiming to be a lawyer for Eames Office emailed me and explained who he was and asked me to remove the listing. He said that even though I clearly identified the chair as Plycraft in both the title and description, the fact that it was so similar in design to the Eames chair made my reference to Eames unacceptable. He said I was using the Eames name to advertise a chair that was in direct competition with true Eames chairs.
I looked the guy up and he was indeed a laywer for Eames, even though he'd used a personal email address to get in touch with me. I emailed him later and suggested he use a company email address when contacting people on behalf of his employer. That part was kinda odd.
I didn't cancel the auction since he emailed me near the end and it was on a weekend. He didn't take any further action.
Spanky...that's real funny
because everything under the sun is listed on eBay as "Eames era"! It's so out of control that it's really difficult to figure out how to search for a genuine Eames item without having to wade through all of the stupid 'Eames era' listings.
Maybe the Eames lawyers should petition eBay to state up front, when the person's setting up their ad and select furniture or mid-century design, that "Eames Era" is not allowed.
It's a free country, but sometimes it's just a little bit TOO free.
spanky
If some lawyer had ...
spanky
If some lawyer had to write you a letter for listing a plycraft chair, sounds like a SCUMB LAWYER to me and i find it hard to believe that the Eames foundation would hire someone to waste time and money on people listing plycraft chairs on Ebay,
I can see where a solo lawyer would be going after chinaese counter fitters but ebay sellers!!
sorry i can not see it ,
The Eames foundation is always looking for public funds for there causes, Would not waste money, and we know Herman Miller only goes for trade dress violations,
must have been just some wannabe lawyer , looking for something to do to boast his own ego. sorry it had to happen to you ,
if me I would not have been to sweet,
Actually LRF, the Eames Office does go after eBay sellers.
The Eames Office have people dedicated to searching online for misuse of the name "Eames", and yes they'll harrass anyone, including eBay sellers. Though I understand how you feel that it seems like a big waste of time and money, the Eames Office lawyers are for real.
The dispute between the Eames Office and eBay over the term "eames era" has been going on forever. While the Eames Office feels the term "eames era" is trademark infringement and may mislead people into thinking they are buying an Eames designed product, eBay actually has the position that the addition of the word "era" makes it a legitimate term referring to the period of 50's-70's design, and is not misleading.
eBay will cancel reported listings whose title only say "eames", however because you added the word "era" eBay allowed it to stay, apparently much to the dismay of the person who reported you, so you got the scare-tactic email instead.
Spanky, was the letter you received from Ric Keefer?
http://www.vendio.com/mesg/read.html?num=2&thread=672692
the_beloved
i stand corrected, EAMES ERA, EAMES ERA EAMES ERA,
I THINK THE EAMES SHOULD PUT THERE EFFORTS AND DONATED MONEY TO BETTER USE, RATHER THAN PICKING ON EBAY SELLERS,
I WILL GO ON THE RECORD THAT THE LAWYERS WHO WRITE THESE LETTERS DO NO GET A DIME FROM ANYONE
THEY TAKE IT UPON THEMSELVES TO WRITE THE LETTERS, FOR THE EAMES,
EBAY PANDERS TO WHAT EVER
I HAVE MORE OWN GRIPE WITH THEM AS THE MOST INCONSISTENT COMPANY IN THE WORLD AS LONG AS THEY GET A FEE,
EAMES ERA IS IN THE VERNACULAR OF THE WORLD SO LIVE WITH IT LIKE EISENHOWER ERA
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