Gumtree Advertisers & Copyright Theft
Many eBay sellers, including dealers continually infringe our IP (Intellectual Property) rights by using our copyright images. We invest considerable time and money in our photographs, and do not appreciate their misappropriation, especially when they are using our effort to compete with us.
Now we have seen the first Gumtree advert using our photographs.
Copyright Notice
Please see our "Copyright" page for further information.
Copyright Infringements Remedies
Our suggested draft remedies for copyright abusers dependent on category - competitors, bloggers, pseudo-expert & advice sites acting as eBay & Google portals, eBay & other auction site sellers.
Other Copyright Abuse
Copyright Thieves on Gumtree
We already have a page naming and shaming eBay members using our images without permission. It's time we did the same for Gumtree.
Notes
Seller ID. Gumtree appear to permit or require their advertisers to remain completely anonymous.
Item Number. We may have shown only one out of many similar items.
Date = Start date or date added to this page if item still current.
Description = Description as used by the seller as his item title.
Price = Final selling price if known, otherwise "Current Price", or "Starting bid".
Gumtree Infringements Reporting Procedure
We were surprised to discover that the company operating the website(s) Gumtree.Com are not clearly identified on their websites. There is no contact address, or company registration number.
The only way to contact them appears to be via "one-way" web forms.
The only exception to this we could find is a fax number for copyright infringements.
We believe reputable internet operators should include the identity of the owner / operator, and appropriate contact details such as head office address, or address for service of legal documents.
We tend to regard with a jaundiced eye any sites which fail to do this. They are often those operated by small-time cowboy traders. Whether Gumtree belong in this category we do not yet know.
To get their address, we had to perform a Companies House search, but are reliant on our guess that it relates to the same Gumtree. Com Limited.
Correction: We have now found their address, but on their "Disclaimer" page, not on their "About Us" page or on their "Site Map". Pretty poor anyway!
Wait & See
We reported our first infringement to Gumtree by their stipulated method, fax, on Thursday 30 July 2009, and are waiting with interest to see how long it takes them to remove the offending material, and whether they comply with our reasonable request for the identity and contact details of their advertiser.
Other Web Sites
All comments about copyright also cover content of all our other websites including, but not limited to:-
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The Most Copied Coin Image on the Internet
The Second Most Copied Coin Image on the Internet
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