Apple Has eBay Kill Off Auctions Of Steve Jobs Figure It Doesn't Like

Trademark

from the is-this-really-worth-it? dept

Mon, Dec 27th 2010 4:13am — Mike Masnick

Remember, a few weeks back, how Apple went after a Chinese company making Steve Jobs figurines and forced it to stop selling them? As you might expect, the attention from the legal threat only served to create much more interest in the figurines, and the few folks who got their hands on them before the offering was shut down, quickly moved to eBay, where they started selling for thousands of dollars... until Apple complained and eBay killed all of the auctions under its VeRO program. This actually strikes me as a bit odd. I could see Steve Jobs making the request, but should eBay listen to a company that requests a takedown of an individual's likeness, even if that individual is the company's CEO? After all, Apple does not own Steve Jobs' likeness...

Of course, we still think it's silly that Apple's so worked up about all this in the first place.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: figurines, publicity rights, steve jobs
Companies: apple, ebay

19 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

simon, 27 Dec 2010 @ 4:57am

Bodyguards wanted
I look like Mr.Jobs, what's going to happen to me?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 27 Dec 2010 @ 5:05am

A commenter on a different site noted it's because the base of the figurine is an Apple logo, which is a big no-no
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Debbie, 27 Dec 2010 @ 5:13am

Re: Bodyguards wanted
Maybe you could start selling figurines of yourself. ;)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
shanoboy (profile), 27 Dec 2010 @ 5:25am

Meh
I'd be flattered. That's a pretty cool figurine. Maybe Steve doesn't like it because it isn't Skeletor looking enough.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Miles (profile), 27 Dec 2010 @ 5:47am

Re:
I noticed this as well which could easily be rectified with a small change in design.

As for the company being told to stop, I'm very surprised they're not running to their government to ask for protection against anti-trust, monopoly, and legal threats from businesses.

Perhaps this is the only way such issues can be corrected, given education fails in the US Congress... daily.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 27 Dec 2010 @ 6:44am

And now its a collectors (or apple fanatic) premium item and it will be eternal, and the chinese will make clones of the chinese clones.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 27 Dec 2010 @ 6:59am

Apple can easily make the request (there are plenty of apple related items on the figure). Jobs doesn't even have to start and Apple already has it resolved. Even if they remove all of the Apple related things, the California laws on use of likeness would come in and again shut it all down.

For anyone to say "what's the harm" shows that their likeness has no value. It is a company trying to make money off of someone else's likeness and popularity without considering if they want to be part of it or not.

How hard is that to understand?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
NullOp, 27 Dec 2010 @ 7:01am

Wonderful
Apple, a billion dollar corporation. How did you spend your morning? Killing off a figure of our CEO "we didn't like."

Apple...still run by two-year-olds!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
abc gum, 27 Dec 2010 @ 7:01am

He has a big head.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
mdmadph (profile), 27 Dec 2010 @ 7:08am

I don't get it -- that's actually a nice likeness. I'd almost consider getting one for an Apple fan. Is Apple jealous that they didn't "invent" it first?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Steve R. (profile), 27 Dec 2010 @ 7:20am

The Free Market at Work?
An emerging trend, companies frustrating other companies from selling products? Recently Time-Warner and Netflix entered into an agreement to delay the release of DVD rentals. The free market is supposed to be about delivering product to the consumer through competition. Now we have Apple attempting to influence E-Bay auctions.

PS: The "correct: solution? Apple buys all the figurines.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Moth, 27 Dec 2010 @ 8:14am

Change you're twitter display picture?
Would it be a good time to have a "change you're twitter display picture" campaign then? Let us all be jobsians... LOL
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Pixelation, 27 Dec 2010 @ 8:26am

maybe they do
"After all, Apple does not own Steve Jobs' likeness..."

or maybe they do...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Travis, 27 Dec 2010 @ 12:29pm

Re:
My only question is, Why should a Chinese company give a damn about a California law?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The eejit (profile), 27 Dec 2010 @ 1:18pm

Re: maybe they do
There's a new clone of Jobs each year, based on the Apple II model. :D
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 27 Dec 2010 @ 1:20pm

Steve Jobs is not just Apple's CEO; he also appears in a great many Apple advertisements aimed directly at the public, making him very much part of the Apple brand. Maybe his contract somehow explicitly transfers his publicity rights to Apple (is that possible?)...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Rekrul, 27 Dec 2010 @ 11:35pm

Re: Meh
Maybe Steve doesn't like it because it isn't Skeletor looking enough.

No, the head isn't big enough. :)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
David, 28 Dec 2010 @ 3:58am

Lot of fuss about nothing
Jobs really ought to get a life and have his sense of humour chip re-implanted. Whatever this guy does, he always comes across (to me, at any rate) as being terse and totally lacking in social graces. If it was me, I would be laughing my head off and I would would certainly consider the life-like model a great compliment and very flattering.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 28 Dec 2010 @ 6:04am

Makes him look like the shark he is.
[ link to this | view in thread ]