Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Nevada

Hi,

Are you allowed (by law) to put "Comparable to ...." in an eBay listing title?

For example, if I were to sell a computer on eBay that is a Toshiba and put "Brand new Toshiba Laptop Comparable To Dell Inspiron" as the title, would this be considered copyright infringement?

I am only concerned with the legality of it, not eBay's terms of service.

Thank you!


Asked on 4/06/11, 4:23 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

John Courtney John Peter Lee, Ltd.

Without knowing eBays terms of service or seeing the exact listing that you would like to post, complete legal advice cannot be rendered. Notwithstanding, there are some general rules that might be helpful.

First, if eBay does not allow one to put "Comparable to...." in an eBay listing title, then you cannot do so without risking liability for breach of contract. Believe it or not, when you click "Agree" in a terms of service box, you have formed a contractual relationship.

Second, you probably would not be liable for copyright infringement; however, whether you might be liable for trademark infringement is another question. The basis for trademark infringement is the "likelihood of confusion." If you put "trademark infringement" in quotes together with "likelihood of confusion" in quotes, separated by "and" (not in quotes) into the Google search bar, you will find a lot of information on the subject (e.g., "trademark infringement" and "likelihood of confusion")

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Answered on 4/06/11, 5:06 pm


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