eBay - Thanks for nothing

The other day, one of my friends noticed that some loser on eBay was selling PDF copies of books (including my Mastering Exchange Server 2007) for $4.99. Said loser is "cheapitems_bargain", by he way. I reported him to Sybex as well as to eBay.

eBay has truly grown up. Their bureaucracy now rivals any government institution. I reported cheapitems_bargain via their online report form. Later that day, eBay responds back with the e-mail below. Hopefully the publisher will have better luck with this than I did.

Dear James,

Thank you for writing eBay in regard to your intellectual property concerns.

If you believe that a listing or item posted on eBay infringes your intellectual property rights, the Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) Program may be able to assist you.

As you may know, eBay does not buy or sell any items. We act only as a venue that helps buyers and sellers to do so. We neither see nor inspect any items that are offered for sale on eBay. However, we recognize that some posted items may infringe certain intellectual property rights. For this reason, we have created the VeRO Program, which enables intellectual property rights owners to identify and request the removal of allegedly infringing listings.

The many benefits of participating in VeRO include:

- Direct access to a support team dedicated to addressing rights owners'
requests and processing Notices of Claimed Infringement (NOCIs)
- The ability to request the removal of listings that infringe your intellectual property rights by using the NOCI form
- The ability to request detailed contact information for sellers who post listings that may infringe your intellectual property rights

How to File a NOCI Report
The first time you file a NOCI, you will need to download, complete, and submit the document to eBay by fax. If you need to submit subsequent NOCIs after your initial fax has been processed, you will be able to do so online.

-- Note --
To view and print the NOCI, you need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. If you don't already have the program, you can download Acrobat Reader for free from Adobe's Web site. To do so, go
to:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

To download a copy of the NOCI form, go to:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/NOCI1.pdf

Please be sure to complete all sections of the form, sign, and fax the NOCI to:

eBay Inc.
ATTN: VeRO
(408) 516-8811

For more information about the VeRO Program, please visit:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/vero-rights-owner.html

If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact us at the following email address:

vero@ebay.com.