eBay seller sues UMG
p2pnet news | music:- Troy Augusto does business on eBay as Roast Beast Music.
Product line? Rare and collectible music. Problem? Sales items include Vivendi Universal promotional CDs.
So Universal, “demanded that eBay take down Augusto’s auctions, claiming that CDs marked as ‘promotional use only’ remain the property of Universal and thus can never be resold,” says the EFF (Electronic Freedom Foundation).
However, Augusto isn’t sitting down for it.
Backed by the EFF and a San Francisco law firm, he’s counter-suing the company for sending what he says were bogus takedown notices to eBay that resulted in the unwarranted suspension of Augusto’s auctions.
“When a consumer buys a CD, he gets certain rights, including the right to resell it,” says EFF senior IP attorney Fred von Lohmann, going on:
Universal is mistaken if it thinks that it can trump these rights simply by putting a label on a CD. Universal is trying to unilaterally rewrite copyright law to the detriment of Augusto’s legitimate business and the public.
Unless this effort is blocked, it could jeopardize not only sales of used CDs, but also libraries, used bookstores, and businesses that rent movies and video games.
Nor is this the first time Universal and affiliates have abused copyright law, as the EFF points out.
For example, “Stephanie Lenzs 29-second video shows her son bouncing along to the Prince song ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ playing in the background,” said p2pnet post, continuing:
Nice.
She wanted to share it with other folks around the world so she uploaded it to YouTube, just like thousands of other proud parents have done.
What happened?
Universal claimed the recording infringed a copyright.
Click on the microphone on the right to hear this story. 
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Also See:
EFF – Online CD Seller Fights Universal’s Bogus Infringement Allegations, August 6, 2007
p2pnet – Mum sues Universal over YouTube video, July 24, 2007
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August 7th, 2007 at 8:29 am
Wonder what Prince has to say about that Universal thing. I’d be appalled if my record label was doing that.
August 7th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
If they are labeled as such so the buyer knows what they are receiving, and they are not copies he has made, he can resell them still. In fact he can sell it for whatever asking price he so desires.
August 8th, 2007 at 8:06 am
It sickens me that the media pigopolists constantly advertise their products with the tagline ‘Own it now’ when they are at the same time trying to convince people they own nothing and in fact all these products are meerly rented or licenced.
They still want the public to belive they are buying to own, yet turn around at the first sign of profit to tell us we have to pay them again.
And again.
And again.
Do they really think that everyone of their customers is really and genuinely that stupid?