« All Women Team takes Yahoo Hack Day Top Prize! | Main | Jim Webb press event »
October 7, 2006
An Issue with HUGE Implications for Photographers
Shampoo eBay seller threatened by manufacturer for photographing productMark Frauenfelder:Jamie Olson from California bought some Aquage shampoo, made by SalonQuest, and offered it for sale on eBay. Her eBay listing included her own photos of the product.
Soon after, a private investigator hired by SalonQuest, emailed Olson, demanding the she stop selling the shampoo.
Of course, the reason SalonQuest is going after Olson isn't because they don't want her to take photos of the shampoo bottles. It's because they want to control the secondary sales market, and they are trying to use copyright law as an excuse.You are displaying copyrighted Aquage containers in your advertisements," which, according to the private investigator, is a "violation of SalonQuest's legal rights under the federal Copyright Act.
Olson, however, refused to cancel her sales in response to Aquage's threatening email. This week, she got a second email from the company's private investigator:
"On September 7, 2006, this office contacted you on behalf of SalonQuest concerning your unauthorized sales of Aquage products on eBay. Despite being formally notified that you are violating SalonQuest's legal rights, you have continued to list additional Aquage products on eBay. Also, you have continued to display copyrighted Aquage containers in your advertisements, yet another violation of SalonQuest's legal rights under the federal Copyright Act.
"SalonQuest would prefer to resolve this issue amicably. However, unless you immediately and permanently discontinue your sales of Aquage products on eBay and through any other unauthorized channels, SalonQuest has authorized us to forward this matter and your file to its legal counsel for further action.
It argues that it has contracts with its distributors limiting resale of products only to licensed vendors. Therefore, it claims that reselling its products is a breach of its contracts. But Olson never entered into a contract with Aquage. She just bought the shampoo at a store and is now trying to resell it. Aquage's contracts with its distributors doesn't give it the power to control the entire secondary market for its products.For now, Olson isn't backing down. Here's her latest eBay auction for Aquage stuff.Link (Thanks, Greg!)
[Lana Lawrence writes: This issue is having a major impact on a photo project that I was going to begin some months ago -- it is a documentary series of sorts and the likelihood of capturing the issues with a common household product is very high. I have no fear of moving forward with the project, but some sponsors are very nervious given the legal climate....]
Posted by Lana at October 7, 2006 12:39 AM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)