Subject:
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Re: "Lego" from China Sets?????
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.services
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Date:
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Mon, 20 May 2002 23:40:32 GMT
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Viewed:
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2974 times
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On Mon, 20 May 2002, Dave Schuler wrote:
> In lugnet.general, Thomas Garrison writes:
> > They are also in blatant violation of Ebay's policies against key word
> > spamming and requiring listing items in the proper category.
> But it's not "key word spamming," since the product is, after all,
> "LEGO-compatible," and that's one of its intended selling points. Why would
> it be any different to describe a LEGO lot as "Red Bricks," since both "red"
> and "brick" could be keywords, in other contexts?
> I thought keyword spamming was more like:
>
> PENCILS FOR SALE BRITNEY SPEARS EMINEM SPIDER-MAN TONY HAWK AMIDALA
>
> in which the actual item has little or nothing to do with the description's
> buzzwords.
This is not, however, how Ebay defines key word spamming.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-wordspam.html
In particular,
Extra Brand Names in Title. Any use of a trademarked
(brand) name in the title of a listing where products
of that brand name are not being offered.
And, very relevently,
Improper Trademark Usage. Generally speaking, reference
to more than one brand name in a description is considered
key word spamming. Under some circumstances it may be
permissible to refer to other brands for comparison
purposes or if you are selling a group of items in a single
listing. However, some uses of other brand names may be
considered by the owners of the relevant trademarks to be
infringements of their rights. For example, use of phrases
such as "Chanel-like," "Movado-style," "Gucci?," "Prada"
(in quotes) or "This "X" brand bag has leather just like a
Coach bag" will likely lead to increased scrutiny of your
listing by rights owners and the implication that the goods
you are offering are not authentic.
. . .
We realize that many of you prefer to use a brand name for
comparative purposes to best illustrate your item's
particular style. However, we encourage you to first contact
the trademark owner in question for their guidance as to
what they consider to be permissible, before making any
questionable use of a brand name.
Based on TLC's efforts in the past to assert its trademark, I think we can
assume that permission would not be forthcoming.
A key aspect is the use of trademarked names describing a particular
product or producer. "Red Bricks" is not (so far as I know) trademarked;
"Lego" is. A generic term that describes what the product *is* is
permissable; a specific term that describes what the product *is not*
(but may be like) is not.
This policy is actually one of the nice things about Ebay (or would
be, if they enforced it): it is in Ebay's interest to ensure that searches
return all relevent results, but only relevent results. That way, users
can find what they're looking for---which includes not giving up because
the target is buried in a haystack of irrelevent hits. This both sends
more users to auctions in which they are interested (hopefully boosting
the final price) and ensures more satisfied users (or at least users who
are willing to continue to look). If the auction-hosting market could be
commoditised by the creation of a common search engine for all auction
venues, this incentive would be lost, and irrelevent hits would instead
become desirable as a way to get more eyeballs to a particular venue's
auctions. . .
--
TWS Garrison
http://www.math.purdue.edu/~tgarriso/
Remove capital letters in address for direct reply.
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: "Lego" from China Sets?????
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| (...) That's news to me, I'm afraid, and I think in practice it's nothing more than Ebay's effort to divorce itself from liability re: trademark representation. Could Ebay even enforce this policy if they wanted to? Hypothetically--if you came into (...) (22 years ago, 21-May-02, to lugnet.market.services)
| | | Re: "Lego" from China Sets?????
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| Would this count as keyword spamming? (URL) is 5382, aquazone accesory pack. The title is Lego 5382 Aquazone Minifigs Town City Space obviesly this has nothing to do with town, city, or space. I found it on a search for 'lego space.'He does not (...) (22 years ago, 27-May-02, to lugnet.market.services)
| | | Re: "Lego" from China Sets?????
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| (...) This is a rather old thread, but I saw (URL) few listings> on eBay that brought this discussion to mind. I check eBay quite often for my beloved clone brand, and I've often seen it described as "Not Legos," but this is the first time I've ever (...) (19 years ago, 20-Jan-05, to lugnet.market.services, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: "Lego" from China Sets?????
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| (...) But it's not "key word spamming," since the product is, after all, "LEGO-compatible," and that's one of its intended selling points. Why would it be any different to describe a LEGO lot as "Red Bricks," since both "red" and "brick" could be (...) (22 years ago, 20-May-02, to lugnet.general, lugnet.market.services)
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