Adam, Hal, other attorneys, and everyone else - Quick Baseball Question Legal Related

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Posted By: <b>Jon Canfield</b><p>Ok, I'll first mention that this post is not too vintage, but both baseball and eBay related! Today I received the following email from eBay.<br /><br />================================================== =========================<br /><br />Dear Jonathan Canfield (jon_canfield@hotmail.com),<br /><br />**PLEASE READ THIS IMPORTANT EMAIL REGARDING YOUR LISTING(S)**<br /><br /><br />We would like to let you know that we removed your listing:<br /><br /><br />5153088138 Reggie Jackson Signed Autographed Baseball OAL COA MINT<br /><br /><br /><br />because the intellectual property rights owner notified us, under penalty of perjury, that your listing or the item itself infringes their copyright, trademark, or other rights.<br /><br />We have credited any associated fees to your account. We have also notified the bidders that the listing(s) was removed, and that they are not obligated to complete the transaction.<br /><br />If you relist this or any other similar items on eBay, your account likely will be suspended. <br /><br />If you believe your listing was ended in error, or have questions regarding the removal of this listing, please contact the intellectual property rights owner directly at:<br /><br />ReggieJackson.com, LLC<br />isla822693@aol.com<br /><br />eBay is available to answer questions, but since it is the rights owner that requested the removal of your listing(s), we encourage you to contact them first.<br /><br />For more information on eBay's cooperation with rights owners through the VeRO Program, and a list of rights owners that have created About Me pages, please visit:<br /><br /> <a href="http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/vero-removed-listing.html" target=_new>http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/vero-removed-listing.html</a><br /> <a href="http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/vero-aboutme.html" target=_new>http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/vero-aboutme.html</a><br /><br />Thank you for your cooperation.<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />Customer Support (Trust and Safety Department)<br />eBay Inc<br /><br />================================================== ======================<br />First of all, I feel this is totally ridiculous - what the !@#$ is eBay comming to?! Anyway, I am a 2nd year law student, but this baffled me. The auction, which was ended by eBay, clearly showed the ball and the certificate of authenticity from Sports Card Heaven who conducted a private signing with Reggie and then sold the baseballs signed to the public. I purchased one of these baseballs about 5 years ago, and that was the baseball I was auctioning. I hoping that one of you practicing attorneys could tell me what copyright/trademark law I infringed?<br /><br />This ball was purchased directly from Sports Card Heaven and was signed directly by Mr. Jackson. The auction clearly displayed the original certificate that was given to customers when we purchased the ball from Sports Card Heaven. I am not aware of any trademark law that would not allow for resale of this item. Furthermore, when Mr. Jackson signed the ball that I purchased, I was not made to sign any paper work that voided my rights to resale, or that explained that I would not be allowed to resell my ball.<br /><br />If someone could give me a quick reason, I'd love to hear it!

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Posted By: <b>Judge Dred</b><p>Watch out, pretty soon ebay will be telling us that only Collectors Universe can sell PSA graded cards. Ok, a bit of a stretch there.<br /><br />Did you happen to use a Sports Card Heaven logo in your item description (without permission to do so)? If you didn't do anything like that then I figure ebay's a bit "off base" here. Then again ebay's always been a bit screwed up in a lot of different areas.

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Posted By: <b>PASJD</b><p>While I am not an intellectual property expert it sounds odd to me, akin to Rolex trying to prevent someone from selling a used Rolex. Rolex could stop you from selling a fake, but not a genuine one, I would imagine, unless you set yourself up as an unauthorized dealer. I would write them, in a polite way for starters, asking them exactly what it is they say you have infringed and asking them to cite you what statute they are relying on.

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Posted By: <b>Jon Canfield</b><p>I did not display the Sports Card Heaven logo, however I did show a photo of their certificate of authenticity that was issued with the baseball. However, eBay rules STATE the COA must be shown!!! Also, reggiejackson.com is the one who complained, not Sports Card Heaven. Here is my take on it... I went to reggiejackson.com and they are the "official" supplier of reggie signed items. As you can imagine, this auction was cheaper than they sell reggie signed baseballs for. I think they view me as a competitor undercutting them although this is the ONLY reggie ball I own. In effect, I feel eBay is allowing reggie to have a "monopoly" on the market of his autgraphed material?

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Posted By: <b>PASJD</b><p>Well clearly that is what Reggie.com is trying to do, but it only begs the question of their legal entitlement to do so. It is not at all clear to me what you might be "infringing"; they obviously have no patents, it isn't clear to me what might be copyrighted (Reggie's name?) and I don't see any trademarks involved. But then again this is not my area of expertise.

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Posted By: <b>Jon Canfield</b><p>I should mention I have asked eBay and Reggiejackson.com to respond and inform me what law I have violated (or potentially am violating). This may seem like a waste of time for a ball worth less than $100, but its principle to me. We all buy items as an investment. If I want to sell something to afford something new, I should not be told I can't sell the item. If I buy a Ford, and after 10,000 miles, want to sell it to buy a Jaguar; Ford shouldn't be able to tell me "you can't sell that item because we own the rights to Ford". It's just not right, and eBay is letting it happen.

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Posted By: <b>Max Weder</b><p>Many sports athletes attempt to protect their intellectual property through "right of publicity" statutes or common law decisions. <br /><br />What I find puzzling in ebay's case here is that if Jackson signed the ball, either for a fee or for free, I'm not sure what statutory right he would have to prevent resale of the ball. The ebay VeRo link states that ebay's protection is for the protection of unauthorized use of the intellectual property owner's rights. Ebay suggests that an item an owner wishes to remove is likely unauthorized but it "helpfully" adds that the owner of the right doesn't have to offer a reason; in this case, it may be that reggiejackson.com wishes to eliminate the competition. This would seem to be an inappropriate use by Reggie, but I will leave it to others qualified in this area to comment.<br /><br />So far, it looks like Mr. October is the only baseball player registered: <a href="http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/vero-aboutme.html#sports" target=_new>http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/vero-aboutme.html#sports</a><br /><br />Max<br /><br /><br /><br />

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Posted By: <b>Jon Canfield</b><p>Max, you and I are on the same reasoning here. I think reggiejackson.com wants to eliminate me as a cheaper competitor. Unfortunately we didn't touch too much on IP rights in my Property Law class, but since I paid a nominal fee ($60) and never signed my righs to resale away, I can't understand this! Guess I'll have to wait to see what reggiejackson.com and eBay tell me!

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Posted By: <b>hankron</b><p>I had a run in with Reggie Jackson's lawyer over a Jackson All-Star Game diamond ring I won from MastroNet. Without going into the details (it involved ownership), Jackson's lawyer was clearly in error and, when shown the facts, he dropped the issue. So, Jon, if you want to know if there's a precident of Jackson's legal advisors being wrong concerning the sale of Jackson memorabilia, there is.

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Posted By: <b>Max Weder</b><p>Jon<br /><br />Athletes have been more vigilent in protecting their intellectual property rights to publicity. In some states, these extend to 75 years beyond the person's death. <br /><br />These rights obviously come into contrast with First Amendment Rights. The Three Stooges decision is a leading California case about balancing these rights. The art producing Larry, Curly and Moe was fine, until it was used to hawk T-shirts, and obviously not based on the merits of the artwork, but on the likeness to the three. Tiger Woods also attempted to sue an artist who produced a series of lithographs without his authorization. Here is some commentary:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rcfp.org/news/mag/25-3/lib-intellec.html" target=_new>http://www.rcfp.org/news/mag/25-3/lib-intellec.html</a><br /><br />I don't know whether the case has gone beyond the US Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit decision in 2003 in which Tiger lost. (Perhaps it wasn't marriage, but this decision that sent him into a funk <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14>) Here's the text of the decision for those interested:<br /><br /><a href="http://pacer.ca6.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/getopn.pl?OPINION=03a0207p.06" target=_new>http://pacer.ca6.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/getopn.pl?OPINION=03a0207p.06</a><br /><br />And for anyone interested, I can offer some off-forum tales of dealing with the estate of Babe Ruth.<br /><br />Max

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Posted By: <b>Dan B</b><p>This just adds one more reason for me to dislike Reggie Jackson.<br /><br />Dan (lifelong Red Sox fan)

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Posted By: <b>Jon Canfield</b><p>Ok, Reggiejackson.com has contacted me. They have informed me that Reggie, himself, looked at the picture and determined the autograph to be fake. I politely emailed them back and said if that was the case, please send me an official email from your company (Sports World handles Reggie sales) stating Reggie has deemed the autograph unauthentic so I can receive a refund from Sports Card Heaven as I did pay a nominal fee to have this ball signed. I also mentioned that I will have the ball authenticated by PSA/DNA as well since I want a 2nd opinion. I quickly received a very rude email back stating that even if PSA/DNA authenticates the ball, I will have my auction pulled again because "Reggie's determination is the supreme determination and will stand in a court of law". I have since emailed Sports World back informing them that the most basic rules of Evidence state that if a party in a legal action does not stipulate to the authenticity or legitimacy of an item (whether it be a letter, voice exemplar, or in this case, a signed baseball), the complaining party can offer 3rd party expert testimony stating the questioned item is indeed, legitimate. The authenticity then becomes a question for the trier of fact to decide.<br /><br />I have yet to get a response - but basically they are screwing with the wrong person and their "legal" threats do not scare me. I think we can all plainly see what is going on here. I will be alerting the California BBB and AG tomorrow about my problems with this company. I just don't think they are being fair!

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Posted By: <b>Scott</b><p>If you check the link Max provided, you will see that Reggie Jackson's company is selling stuff on ebay this week - I'm sure they don't want the competition or any confusion from competing items. Following from Reggiejackson.com:<br /><br />The Mr. October Garage Sale on ebay!<br /><br /> ReggieJackson.com is proud to announce that we will be selling authentic items from Reggie's personal collection. We're talking game worn uniform pieces, game baseballs, early career autographs and things he has collected over the years. Now you can own something that Mr. October once owned and held for many years. Auction items are garanteed to be owned by Reggie Jackson. Portions of the sales go to The Mr. October for Kids Foundation. Auctions begin this week. <br />

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Posted By: <b>Josh K.</b><p>I practice in NC which, like many states, has an unfair and deceptive trade practices statute. if scott is correct and reggie.com is attempting to prevent you from competing with their "garage sale" by relying on legal arguments they know to be meritless, it would seem that their actions may fall within the scope of such a statute. I would write back and casually mention that you are reviewing your legal options under the appropriate state statute. Of course, Im a labor and employment attorney, so what do I know about unfair and deceptive trade practices.

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Posted By: <b>Jon Canfield</b><p>Josh and everyone else - thanks for your tips and info. I appreciate everything and just am a little upset by all of this. I can tell my "legal jargon" emails are getting through to Sports World because the tone of their recent emails have again become polite and I am now being emailed by the "Director / CEO" instead of the original person who contacted me. I do feel you are all correct and they are using the law (or their relative lack of legal knowledge) to prevent me from selling Reggie signed items. What gets me the most is that in order to have eBay pull my auction, they stipulate "under penalty of perjury" that my item "violates their copyrights", which it clearly doesn't. If Reggie wanted to contest the validity of his signature, then he could have contacted eBay and had the auograph pulled as being fake - BUT THEY DID NOT DO THAT HERE. Also, it's awfully suspicious that Sports World is trying to recite rules of evidence to me but they are wrong. I am deciding whether or not to ask for the name of their attorney to speak directly to him/her. I may only be a 2L (2nd year law student), but I do well enough to know that they are wrong here and I have a clear case. It all comes down to how far I want to take this. It is probably one of those situations where I should just be the "bigger man" so to speak and walk away - but the question remains, where does this end? What eBay is allowing Reggie to do is deceptive and wrong. If I do decide to walk away, you better believe that reggiejackson.com is getting a long letter explaining why they should be thankful I don't want to fight this more! [Let's just say I have a very very nice summer associate position with a top New York City firm that asks us to take a case, either pro bono or personal, during our time this summer. Furthermore, the partner who hired me is a huge sports fanatic!]

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Posted By: <b>Paul</b><p>I agree with you that it is very suspicious that rj.com told ebay that your ball violates their intellectual property rights, but rj.com told you it is a fake. Perhaps ebay has a policy of pulling infringing items, but no policy of pulling fakes, so rj.com tried to fit a round peg into a square hole and told ebay a little fib.<br /><br />Of course, the bigger fib is that Reggie himself is trolling ebay looking for fake autographs. That simply defies all credibility and I'm quite confident Reggie wouldn't be willing to perjure himself in court over this. But you and everyone in your position can't afford to push Reggie that far. The theory that Reggie doesn't like competition sounds pretty valid to me.

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Posted By: <b>Josh K.</b><p>If it were me, I wouldnt walk away - but then I like a challenge. You could file a suit pretty cheaply and without all the headaches associated with with a typical case by filing in small claims. When I was in law school, I took a Legal Clinic for the Elderly course and sued a door to door salesmen (insert jokes here)and his company under NC's Unfair and Deceptive Trade statute in small claims court (you will need to file your own complaint rather than using the standard small claims form that most use) - it was reached very quickly and settled due to the presence of the the UDT claim (which provides treble damages to the prevailing plaintiff) - the magistrate was actually upset that it settled since, according to him, he never gets to hear such claims. This would put you on "equal footing" with reggie and company - just make sure your damages are within the jurisdictional limits.

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Posted By: <b>Kenny Cole</b><p>As is often true, I suspect its a money-bully thing. That's a pretty effective technique. I guess that if I were really committed to fighting that fight, I would suggest that once Reggie lets the verification get away, it is no longer his deal to fight. If you really wanted to get pissy (nothing mean intended), file a dec action and make Reggie show why you shouldn't be selling what you wanted to sell. You have a shot at fees, and what they get is bad pub. Just my thought.<br /><br />Kenny Cole

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Posted By: <b>Scott</b><p>people might start thinking Reggie Jackson is an a*hole...wait...they already think that.

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Posted By: <b>Jon Canfield</b><p>Again, thanks for all you input and THANKS Net54 for letting me vent frustration (sure the auction was for only $60 but like I said, its still principle). I have emailed eBay's VeRO program with the following email... Basically, if I can show that reggiejackson.com abused the VeRO program, I would like to see eBay repremand Sports World (even if it just freakin email) and maybe an appology to me. However, if they want to fight - I'd consider. This would make a great topic for my short Law Review note. (PS - If any of you lawyers or legal fans out there want to read a decent 50 page Law Review note on the US Redefining "Torture" and the legal implications involved, shoot me an email! I assure you baseball cards pre-1930 are not mentioned at all, but still some good reading!)<br /><br />Hello,<br /><br />I emailed you earlier about my Reggie Jackson baseball I had pulled becuase reggiejackson.com said it "violated their intellectual property rights". [My eBay ID is joncanfield19 and the auction number was #5153088138] As the VeRO information page asks, I contacted reggiejackson.com for an explanation. I have saved all email correspondance with the company and will gladly forward them for your review upon your request. In short, this is what they have told me. I was informed by the general manager of "Sports World" [I assume this is the company handling reggiejackson.com] that Reggie, himself, looked at the scan of my baseball and determined it was fake. I quickly informed them that Reggie must have made a mistake as I bought the baseball directly from a private signing that was conducted between Sports Card Heaven (my auction displayed their certificate of authenticity) and Reggie himself. I also asked them to please provide me with an official email stating that the baseball was fake so I could get my money back from Sports Card Heaven. Sports World refused my request for an official email and told me "I was put on notice". I then informed them that I would obtain PSA/DNA authentication of the Reggie Jackson autographed baseball because you, eBay, reccomends PSA/DNA autnetication. Sports World then informed me that EVEN if PSA/DNA authenticates the ball, they will have you end my auction. They also quoted me some legal "jargon" but as I told you earlier, I am a second year law student and what they told me was completely wrong.<br /><br />Now, here are my problems. <br /><br />Problem #1: First and foremost, if Reggie Jackson truly looked at my baseball and thought it was fake, why didn't they contact eBay about the forgery and have you pull my auction? INSTEAD, they had you pull my auction UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY, that I violated copyright/trademark law. However, when I questioned reggiejackson.com (Sports World) on which law I violated, they change their story. SO, my first problem is that reggiejackson.com abused the VeRO program by saying, under penalty of perjury, that my auction violated copyright law WHEN IT DID NOT. Instead, they used VeRO to pull my auction for a totally different reason.<br /><br />Problem #2: After doing some research, I see that reggiejackson.com is going to be listing a "garage sale" of Reggie Jackson signed items this week on eBay. This is printed directly on Reggie's eBay "about me page" which you can view here: <a href="http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=reggiejackson.com" target=_new>http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=reggiejackson.com</a>. That being the case, I find it awfully suspicious that reggiejackson.com (aka Sports World) abused the VeRO program to have my auction pulled right before they were about to list their own autographs. This sounds like they are eliminating me as competition.<br /><br />Problem #3: As stated above, reggiejackson.com informed me in an email that "an opinion by PSA/DNA will not be accepted as there are way too many variables. Reggie says it is not his [signature] and eBay will honor that". So, are they correct? Does eBay truly tell customers like me to spend $100 to get my ball authenticated by PSA/DNA and if PSA/DNA says it is REAL, you will still end my auction if Sports World tells you to? This, to me, sounds like a monopoly here?! The Federal Rules of Evidence even state that if an opposing party in a legal proceeding does not stipulate to the legitimacy or authenticity of an item in question, whether that be a letter, (or in this case, a signed baseball) the complaining party can offer 3rd party proof through handwriting or other expert testimony to establish the legitimacy / authenticity of the disputed item. The authenticity then becomes a question for the trier of fact to decide. I ALREADY HAVE A STATEMENT SAYING THIS BALL WAS SIGNED AT A PRIVATE SIGNING AND I AM SUBMITTING FOR PSA/DNA AUTNETICATION AS WELL.<br /><br />As you can see, this is a HUGE problem we have here. It seems that reggiejackson.com is abusing you VeRO program and have committed perjury. Also, they are telling me policies that go against what you, eBay, states. Please, contact me immediatly either by email or by phone (518) 993-2452 to discuss this situation further. I have already notified my lawyer and I'm exploring my legal options as we speak. I'm hoping this issue can be resolved amicably between myself, eBay, and reggiejackson.com. <br /><br />Thanks,<br />Jon Canfield

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Posted By: <b>Richard Dwyer</b><p>What is Reggie smoking? Steroids? So much for being a role model.

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Posted By: <b>jamie</b><p>On the Beckett message board, another poster had a similar problem with a Mantle ball. It was cancelled by Mantle's estate for the same reason- copyright infringement- this at least clears up some issues on that side. Just thought you'd want to know that RJ isn't the only one exploiting Ebay's policies.

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Posted By: <b>warshawlaw</b><p>Specifically, a jackass. <br /><br />What they are trying to do is create a temporary monopoly. I'd go after them under an unfair trade practices law or an antitrust law since you have been directly injured by their predatory actions.

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Posted By: <b>sagard</b><p>If they are truly going to be auctioning off a bunch of items on Ebay they are certainly exposing themselves to some juvinile retaliation.

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Posted By: <b>hankron</b><p>But it would be interesting if your ball was signed by Jackson under contract/being paid to sign by the company on your LOA. If the private signing was legitimate and Jackson was under contract to sign the balls, Jackson might be the one breaking the law by trying to prevent the balls from being sold. If that were the situation (not saying it is), it would at least make an interesting article.

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Posted By: <b>jackgoodman</b><p>Please keep us updated on what happens. It affects all of us, in some manner. Thanks.

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Posted By: <b>PASJD</b><p>I don't think Jon is well advised to bring a lawsuit where his damages are probably a few bucks at best (lost profits from sale of a single ball). Small claims court at best, or a nasty letter if he feels the need for vindication. Let's be realistic here. There is no antitrust claim unless one could make the improbable argument that Reggie Jackson autographed balls are constitute a separate, relevant product market. This seems unlikely to me. Plus where does Jon sue? Does blocking an ebay sale, or posting an ebay auction, confer personal jurisdiction over Reggie.com in Jon's home state?

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Posted By: <b>warshawlaw</b><p>stating that certain actions through the net subject the seller to the personal jurisdiction of every court where the items are offered for sale. I had to litigate the issue once in Federal court, which is why my terms and conditions of sale on anything on ebay include a choice of law and venue clause as a condition of the bid.

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Posted By: <b>Mike Poland</b><p>CORNY WIT WARNING!!!<br /><br />I think they forgot the "B" between the "R" and "A" in "garage". <br />

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Posted By: <b>PASJD</b><p>I can see that for a corporate seller like amazon.com that does worldwide business through the net, but posting an ebay auction subjecting the seller to jurisdiction everywhere? I don't believe the law has progressed (deteriorated?) anywhere near that point.

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Posted By: <b>Josh K.</b><p>I tend to agree with Adam re jurisdiction. I believe that the long arm statutes of most states are broad enough to haul someone into your jurisdiction when their unlawful acts caused you damage (regardless of how small). Further, it would be up to Reggie to challenge the jurisdiction - which of course will cost him money - the suit itself may be enough to force them to drop the issue. Finally, while damages may be small, if successful on an unfair trade practices claim you would typically be entitled to treble damages plus attorneys' fees and costs. Since Jon is a budding lawyer to be, Im sure he could take care of it himself, saving much in the way of fees should he lose. Economically speaking, there is not much risk.

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Posted By: <b>canjond</b><p>Just a quick update... eBay responded via a form letter! I have emailed them 3 times and all 3 times, I received identical letters from 3 different senders. It appears that they don't read what I send - but I never figured eBay would be much help anyway. As for jurisdictional issues, I would bring a claim under New York's UTD laws. I did a few searches and even though Nevada offers more in terms of treble damages, I would try and litigate in NY simply because I would hope for a default judgment. As for damages - if I prove the ball authentic via PSA/DNA, I can receive the value of the ball or $50, whichever is greater. Furthermore, NYS allows for $1000 in treble damages. So, it might be worth my while economically, especially because I'm pretty sure I can actually do this as an ind. study in law school and get class credit as well! (However an ind. study would require me to submit a joint appendix and so on; which may be excessive for a small claims court issue. Furthermore, not quite sure if I'm allowed to do an ind. study when I'm an "interested" party). I will keep you all up-to-date as to what happens. I also want to mention that the award, if any, I would receive would not be my motivation (although an extra bonus). If I decide to pursue a claim, it is simply on principle. This is totally unfair, especially in the way reggiejackson.com handled the situation. The emaisl they have sent me (especially the ones when they mistate basic rules of evidence) are comical.