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Posted at January 29, 2005, 10:24 pm: Less than two weeks ago, I put up a website called www.ShmeeBay.com. This website was to be an eBay discussion site away from the clutches of eBay, hence ShmeeBay, as in the colloquialism, eBay ShmeeBay. We all know that eBay moderates and censors their website discussion boards, so I decided to put one up with the latest bulletin board technology. Less than a day my website was up, I received an email from them telling me I was in violation of some domain policy. Upon further review, my attorneys determined I was not (I am happy to provide you a copy at your request). Then last night, I was contacted by my webhost saying that eBay sent them a DCMA to order them to pull my website. EBay is determined that because my website has the word "eBay" in it that I infringe upon their trademark violation. My webhost has consulted their attorneys and have unfortunately chose to acquiese to their demand, albeit reluctantly. What I truly believe is that they're trying to strong arm any independent discussion forum about eBay. My site is to be strictly donation supported as I do not run any ads on it. If you do some research, domain names such as ebayforums.com, ebaychat.com, ebaytalk.com ad infinitum have all been registered by various people. However, none of these website are live. They are scaring the public in presenting an unbiased discussion arena about eBay. This is extremely intriguing since they have more money than anyone to put up a super sophisticated discussion forum, yet they choose to use something extremely slow and antiquated. Interesting. They are deliberately trying to hinder discussion about eBay as they know, there is no Upside in eBay discussion forums, there's or anyone elses. In the email they first sent to me, it states that they were able to prevent the registration of "ebaysecurities.com". Not only can you not find any live sites with the words ebay in it (except www.pissonebay.com which my attorney believes they leave alone because it is a lampoon site), but there are (to my knowledge), NO discussion forums about eBay anywhere. I would like you to know that my website will be taken down against my will by my webhost. I am searching for a new place to put it, but until then, please check out www.shmeebay.com. In particular, this thread: http://www.shmeebay.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36 eBay is hiding behind and using trademark law to censor my site. They know that if they bring up a lawsuit based upon the discussion forum, they will be slaughtered in the media. Thus they hide behind trademark infringement. I was very careful when I chose the name ShmeeBay. It is a colloquialism, eBay ShmeeBay. Like Joe Shmoe. According to their argument, then if i registered ChesapekeBay.com and talked about eBay, i would also be in trademark violation. If you do a google search on ShmeeBay, you will see that ShmeeBay is a word that many people use. I did not make it up. People even use ShmeeBay on eBay's own discussion boards. Here is my plan. I will do my best to find a new webhost for ShmeeBay. I would like to grow ShmeeBay, the eBay Members Union, as large as possible. To the point where we can urge buyers to only buy from Union members and demand Sellers to only sell to Union members. This is the only way Seller and Member concerns will be recognized. I may lose in the state court. I may lose in the federal appelate court. But I know I will win in the Supreme Court. If you check out Hondaforums.com or Chevytalk, or Nissanforums, or Fordforums, etc., you will find thousands of members in each of these discussion forums. You will also see that they've been around a long time. If Ebay's claim that I am infringing on their trademark, then these websites have a weaker case than I do as ShmeeBay is a word unto itself, while HondaForums clearly borrows their trademark. All of these sites are independent. So if the Supreme Court were to rule in favor of eBay, then hundreds of these websites (who are non-profit discussion sites only) will automatically be pulled and become illegal, including sites like macforums, sonyforums, etc. This would be huge in the arena of business and free speech. Where would anyone find very specific information on brand names? I also believe that Honda (or a company similar) would not want this, nor would they want to approve a site as well. If the Supreme Court were to rule in favor of eBay, then where and how do people talk about Hondas or eBay? By eBay's definition, we need to find a completely separate word. However, since these sites are not for profit, then it would be extremely difficult for people to know about these forums unless the site owners advertise. And they have no money for that. It's a vicious cycle. In sum, eBay is harassing my site with threats of trademark infringement and violation (when my trademark attorney and several other attorneys do not believe I am in violation) while truthfully, they have successfully shut down every single domain name with the word ebay in it and shut down any eBay discussion forums. EBay does not want the public to discuss EBay outside of Ebay's jurisdiction. I believe this to be a First Amendment Issue. They are such Cowards to hide behind trademark law while they are actually suppressing the First Amendment. I apologize for the stream-of-consciousness structure of this email as i've been dealing with my webhost issue and my mind is dead tired. Original of the message was taken from http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/ Replies:Good call by their attorneys.Just went signed up @ the shmeebay board . How do you figure there's no forums available to freely discuss eBay? ... -+there's also paypalsucks. So on YOUR site, if we mention AuctionBytes or suggest a fixed price s... Technically, the newsgroups are dedicated exclusively to eBay. I was going to write that i go to a form that listed discussions on ya... if they say it is because it has the word ebay in it. I believe they can't take your site down if you are a non-commercial e... -+good point Ina! Susie But not before senior members really helped. Other Topics of AuctionBytes:Interested in buying eBay account with feedback; paying wellVENDIO DOWN?? Wm Rogers Mfg and other Questions AuctionBytes Survey on eBay Feedback Children & Antique Stores rollieflex Please Tell Me...... 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