Ebay moves to ban dev related items. New TOS

Are Dev kits banned outright by ebay or does the copyright holder need to file a claim under VERO? This is an important distinction regarding whether he can relist it or not.

 

Boooo!

 

My understanding is that there's usually no way to legally own a devkit - they are licenced from Nintendo or whoever and should be returned or destroyed afterwards. Ergo anyone selling them on ebay without the owner's permission isn't just breaking ebay's rules, they're breaking the law.

 

I understand the part that dev kits should be destroyed or returned, but I have my doubts that abandoned Dev kits would not be covered by the "first-sale doctrine". I know, we need a lawyer to explain whether this is possible or not. But it would seem to me that it would be difficult for an IP holder to claim a decade old dev kit that was abandoned still belongs to them.

However all this still doesn't answer my question. Does ebay ban the sale of dev kits or do they rely on the copyright holder to file a Vero claim. If they do rely on the IP holder to file a Vero claim, the seller should file a "counter notice" with ebay. If the copyright holder cares about the dev kit they will respond to it and prevent it from being reposted. In most cases "counter notice" submissions are ignored and the seller can proceed with the auction. Either way someone should submit a "counter notice" to see where the IP holders officially stand on posting dev kits on ebay. It seems like an issue that people on this board should know about, using specific details and procedures.

 

Why not just whack a subdomain on to this one?

market.assemblergames.com and get rid of the forum marketplace.

 

NEXT TARGET ---- ASSEMBLERGAMES.COM

 

I wonder how often they will check for dev items

 

The reason you can't sell dev items is because of an NDA, non-discloseure agreement.
Like when acclaim went bankrupt, the stuff was all sold off to the highest bidder and NOT returned to the respective companies, I'm guessing because once a company has collapsed, so has the NDAs protecting equipment, so if you've not got an NDA then as far as I'm aware they can't stop you selling it, whereas if you stole it from them then they could but who knows, I'm no lawyer.

I've been banned from ebay before for a daft reason, I got scammed on a DVD, so I got banned, absolute joke. Filed a complaint with paypal and they recovered none of my money.

 

development kits are not classified government equipment or something. There might be legal ways of owning one, especially older ones.

This can include late action from the side of the legal owner, time-barring effectively any claims he might have had against the holder of the kit.

Nevertheless, it's also a matter of where you get caught - jurisdiction and applicable law matter in international conflict cases as much as the particular facts of the case.