Rocket City Sales – Trademark and Copyright Policy

1. All items purchased on eBay from Rocket City Sales are transactions between the buyer and seller only and are not backed by any eBay VeRO member or brand manufacturer, are not covered under warranty, guarantee, or buyback policy unless stated otherwise in the auction or listing description of Rocket City Sales.  Rocket City Sales is not associated with any eBay VeRO Member, unless otherwise stated in the auction listing or description by Rocket City Sales.  All items sold by Rocket City Sales are the express property of Rocket City Sales. 
2. If you are a property/trademark/copyright owner through the eBay VeRO Program, we strongly suggest you read all information on this page before filing a VeRO dispute against any item or items located in/on a Rocket City Sales auction or store listing.
3. Parties seeking to use the VeRO Program become members of eBay and are therefore subject to the rules and regulations of eBay.  Each member accepts and recognizes that offering an item for auction is a pending contract to perform and to sell.  When an item receives a bid, there is a binding contract to buy.  Terminating an auction, without cause, constitutes tortuous interference with business on the part of all VeRO members.
4. Any Rocket City Sales auction or store listing terminated by an eBay VeRO member may face litigation as auctions or store listings terminated by any eBay VeRO members will engage in and willfully and knowingly commit perjury as defined in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. Section 512 simply to intimidate and attempt to control the marketplace. 
5. What is a Trademark?  A trademark is a limited property right in a particular word, phrase or symbol.  i.e., a trademark is a word or a symbol that represents a company or its products.  An example is the mouse ears used by Disney. The mouse ears are known around the world as being Mickey Mouse and being Disney. Mercedes uses the famous 3-prong symbol in a circle.  Another example is The Olympic rings, Alfred E. Newman, the NBC peacock, all represent famous trademarks.  Sometimes a name is a trademark - Kleenex is one example of this.  The owner of a trademark has the exclusive right to use that symbol, or name or word, to promote it's company and it's products under the Lanham Act, which is the primary federal legislation concerning trademarks.  However, and it's a big however, the Lanham Act also specifically recognizes the "fair use" of a company's trademark.  The Fair Use Doctrine grants the use of a trademark under certain conditions.  What is not Fair Use?  If you are selling a Minnie Mouse plate and you use a picture of Mickey Mouse to draw attention to the advertisement that is not fair use.  You can use only a picture of the actual product. Additionally, using non-specific words, like Winnie the Pooh, again to draw attention to the advertisement, is an infringement of Trademark Laws.  Since at least the Middle Ages, trademarks have served primarily to identify the source of goods and services, "to facilitate the tracing of 'false' or defective wares and the punishment of the offending craftsman." F. Schechter, The Historical Foundations of the Law Relating to Trade-marks 47 (1925).  The law has protected trademarks since the early seventeenth century, and the primary focus of trademark law has been misappropriation--the problem of one producer's placing his rival's mark on his own goods. 
6. What is a Copyright?  A copyright is protection afforded an idea. This idea can be in the form of a book, a poem, a drawing or painting, a song or a melody, or a computer program.  A copyright doesn't cover everything. You cannot copyright an elephant but you can copyright a stylized drawing of an elephant. You cannot copyright a word but you can copyright the unique manner in which that word is presented. The word "YANKEES" in gothic lettering is a copyright of Major League Baseball.  Copyright law, like trademark law, grants a lot of exclusive rights to the holder of the copyright.  It also states specific exceptions.  The First Sale Doctrine is an important part of trademark law.  Without it, owning something would be very messy.  The First Sale Doctrine says that once the owner of a copyrighted item sells it, or gives it away, the owner can no longer control what is done with the item.  If that were not the case, you could not repaint your old car, have a garage sale to get rid of junk, or donate that old computer to the school.  The First Sale Doctrine prevents the copyright owner from interfering with your use, alteration, and subsequent disposal of something you bought or received as a present.  Suppose you purchased a coloring book manufactured by Disney and your child colored a picture making the Lion King purple.  Should Disney have the right to have you arrested because your child didn't use the correct colors?  No.  They lost control of that coloring book when you bought it.  What is a Derivative?  There is a tricky exception.  And the lawyers love to use the "derivative" word.  A derivative is when you take a copyrighted item and alter it, or transform it, into something original using the copyrighted material.  But, the changed copyrighted item must be original enough to get its own copyright to be a derivative.  Confused?  So are the courts.  One case in the 9th Circuit ruled that the simple act of mounting greeting cards onto a tile and covering it with epoxy was a derivative and therefore belonged to the original owner.  Most courts place a higher standard on "originality".  A two-dimensional cartoon character cannot be made into a three-dimensional costume without the consent of the copyright holder.  The costume is a derivative of the copyrighted cartoon.  But copyrighted fabric bearing the image of the cartoon character can be made into a costume.
7. What is First Sale Doctrine?? (excerpt taken from WordIQ.com website – an on-line dictionary)  The first-sale doctrine is an exception to copyright codified in the US Copyright Act, section 109.  The doctrine of first sale allows the purchaser to transfer a particular, legally acquired copy of protected work without permission once it has been obtained. That means the distribution rights of a copyright holder end on that particular copy once the copy is sold.  It is the principle that causes people to find the following example absurd:  "If you purchase a Ford car, you may not drive it near a Chevy dealer, or trade it for a Chevy, because it was Ford's car."  US courts upheld the doctrine of first sale in Softman v. Adobe and Novell, Inc. v. CPU Distrib., Inc. when applied to software even if the software contains an End User License Agreement (EULA) prohibiting resale.  In this case Softman, after purchasing bundled software from Adobe, unbundled it and then resold the component programs. The courts ruled that consumers can resell bundled software, no matter what the EULA stipulates.  Specifically, the ruling decreed that software purchases be treated as sales transactions, rather than explicit license agreements. In other words, consumers should have the same rights they would enjoy under existing copyright legislation when buying a CD or a book.  They cannot make copies outside of the exemption in section 117 Limitations on exclusive rights: Computer programs, but may resell what they own.  Doctrine of first sale does not include renting and leasing phonorecords (recorded music) and computer software; although private non-profit archives and libraries are allowed to lend these items provided they include a copyright notice on the copy.  In a unanimous ruling in Quality King Distributors Inc., v. L'anza Research International Inc. (1998, WL 9625) The Supreme Court found that the doctrine does apply to importation into the US of goods which were made in the US, then exported.  This is significant for grey market imports of software, clothing and other goods, where the price outside the US may be lower than the price inside.  The importation of goods first manufactured outside the US under the copyright laws of other countries was specifically excluded from that decision, leaving US copyright holders free to take action against foreign distributors who sell products made in their region into the US market.  This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.  It uses material from the Wikipedia article "First sale doctrine".  Source: http://www.wordiq.com/definition/First_sale_doctrine
8. At this point we could go on and on with details regarding the First Sale Doctrine and Fair Use Doctrine.  We believe that any VeRO Program Participant who reads this is aware that Rocket City Sales has full knowledge of their legal rights are pertaining to Copyright and Trademark laws within the US.
9. References:
1. Title 15, USC, Commerce and Trade
2. Title 15, USC, Chapter 22, Trademarks
3. Title 17, USC, Copyrights
4. Title 17, USC, Chapter 5, Copyright Infringement and Remedies
5. Title 17, USC, Chapter 12, Copyright Protection and Management Systems
6. www.copyright.gov (Digital Millennium Copyright Act & More)
7. www.tabberone.com