Author Topic: Selling GS Episodes on Ebay (Read 8315 times)

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #15 on:** March 29, 2006, 05:05:41 PM »

Something like old "Concentration," shows, though, have no value, except for this one guy who supposedly paid $100, otherwise you would see NBC putting out DVDs or exploiting them on the air. So, how can one seek damages for something that is worthless?

Unless there is a desire to keep it from the public, for some reason.

chris319 · « **Reply #16 on:** March 29, 2006, 05:51:14 PM »

Quote

old "Concentration," shows, though, have no value

An NBC lawyer likely wouldn't agree with you.

NBC may feel that a $100 ebay sale of Concentration isn't worth a lawyer's time to deal with. If you burned all of your old "Later with Bob Costas" VHS airchecks onto CD, started mass producing and marketing them, I think you might expect to hear from NBC.

When you work for a big, multinational media conglomerate, you learn how anal retentive they are about their intellectual property rights.

mmb5 · « **Reply #17 on:** March 29, 2006, 06:07:58 PM »

[quote name=\'chris319\' post=\'114666\' date=\'Mar 29 2006, 04:56 PM\']
If you sell those CDs for $5 each on ebay, at a flea market, out of the back of your van, etc., every $5 you collect takes $5 away from the people who stand to collect money through the normal sales channel (the record company, the artist, the retailer, etc.).
[/quote]

Don't forget the data provider(s). They need the money most of all!

--Mike

mctoyboy · « **Reply #18 on:** March 29, 2006, 08:28:23 PM »

[/quote]

Technically I agree with that, although you do see promo CDs and records on e-bay all the time.
[/quote]
I have a couple rare Madonna promos i found at a thrift store......Warner Brothers pulled them from eBay. It wasn't illegal as far as they were concerned. But, they owned the copywrite and i couldn't sell them. BUT, they also didn't want them back. I could keep them. I just couldn't make money off their property. Ebay allows the individual owners to police the auctions, but that's really as far as they'll go =)
j

clemon79 · « **Reply #19 on:** March 29, 2006, 09:02:16 PM »

[quote name=\'mctoyboy\' post=\'114688\' date=\'Mar 29 2006, 05:28 PM\']
Ebay allows the individual owners to police the auctions, but that's really as far as they'll go =)
[/quote]
Of course. You will NEVER see Ebay voluntarily step away from collecting an auction fee. They could give a rats ass about copyright, if it makes them money, too. It's when they are in a position to get threatened with litigation that they start caring.

Robert Hutchinson · « **Reply #20 on:** March 29, 2006, 09:35:57 PM »

Just for the record, and not to stir up a hornet's nest, but the illegality of (re)selling "Promo -- Not For Resale" material is actually a little iffy from what I understand, especially if the seller is not the first recipient of the material. That is, just because it says "Not For Resale" on the package doesn't necessarily mean that that's the law.

On the reasonable hand, of course, selling such is still often A) a dumb thing to do, and B) enough to get eBay to close your auction after they hear from lawyers.

narzo · « **Reply #21 on:** March 29, 2006, 09:42:17 PM »

how about this, taking a page from an old scalpers trick. I'm selling you this cheap watch I own, but to the high bidder I'm giving as a gift a tape of old game show episodes. Now I'm claiming this is just a private sale of a watch and giving you a tape, not selling the episodes. Kosher?

Dbacksfan12 · « **Reply #22 on:** March 29, 2006, 11:53:32 PM »

[quote name=\'narzo\' post=\'114697\' date=\'Mar 29 2006, 08:42 PM\']
how about this, taking a page from an old scalpers trick. I'm selling you this cheap watch I own, but to the high bidder I'm giving as a gift a tape of old game show episodes. Now I'm claiming this is just a private sale of a watch and giving you a tape, not selling the episodes. Kosher?
[/quote]
Just as kosher as those who actually sell the tapes on Ebay, and charge for "time and packaging". Not kosher in my book, but whether its the law or not is another story.

clemon79 · « **Reply #23 on:** March 30, 2006, 12:58:28 AM »

[quote name=\'narzo\' post=\'114697\' date=\'Mar 29 2006, 06:42 PM\']
how about this, taking a page from an old scalpers trick. I'm selling you this cheap watch I own, but to the high bidder I'm giving as a gift a tape of old game show episodes. Now I'm claiming this is just a private sale of a watch and giving you a tape, not selling the episodes. Kosher?
[/quote]
By the letter of the law? I'd guess no. But you would have a very hard time finding someone to successfully prosecute it, and as a result Ebay will be only too happy to take your money.

Robert Hutchinson · « **Reply #24 on:** March 30, 2006, 06:23:57 PM »

Um, giving out unauthorized copies is illegal whether or not money changes hands. There may be *more* laws that you're breaking by making a profit, but copying and distribution are plenty.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #25 on:** March 30, 2006, 11:54:22 PM »

I presume it is legal if you just sold the physical tape and tape case without disclosing the contents in your description. I saw many videotapes at rummage sales in the last year or so with who knows what on them.

clemon79 · « **Reply #26 on:** March 30, 2006, 11:58:21 PM »

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' post=\'114836\' date=\'Mar 30 2006, 08:54 PM\']
I presume it is legal if you just sold the physical tape and tape case without disclosing the contents in your description.
[/quote]
Uh, no, there is no "ignorance" clause. If you're going to sell a blank tape and you can't be bothered to check what's on it, and you're worried about being 100% in compliance with the law, you'd better bulk it.

I'm not sure why this is such a hard concept.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #27 on:** March 31, 2006, 12:54:27 AM »

There has been a gray (grey?) area with regard to works in the public domain. From what I am led to believe, prior to March of 1989, a show had to have a copyright notice on screen, otherwise it would risk falling into public domain, and anyone who had a copy would be free to make more for profit or not. Any public domain experts here?

clemon79 · « **Reply #28 on:** March 31, 2006, 01:01:03 AM »

Dude, I'll eat my words if I'm wrong, but at its face that is just a ludicrous statement.

Ian Wallis · « **Reply #29 on:** March 31, 2006, 09:03:11 AM »

Quote

There has been a gray (grey?) area with regard to works in the public domain. From what I am led to believe, prior to March of 1989, a show had to have a copyright notice on screen, otherwise it would risk falling into public domain, and anyone who had a copy would be free to make more for profit or not. Any public domain experts here?

There are some cheap DVDs of shows like Beverly Hillbillies and Andy Griffith on the market that are "public domain" episodes. Reportedly a couple dozen episodes of each of those shows (and others) have somehow fallen into the public domain. They also apparantly have different theme songs than we're used to, because those are still copyrighted.

Personally, I'm confused by the whole thing - I thought TV shows were bought, sold and copyrighted as a whole - how a few episodes could be public domain is beyond me. Maybe the copyright notice has something to do with it (?)