Paul Boratko

Any guesses as to why TLC is trying to shut me down..?

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Since I am receiving No responses from them in this matter as I should have been contacted first before there was any action taken, I will take it public to see if anyone has any insight into what was being violated here... LEGO Juris A/S is the owner of all of the Major Lego domains... What I would like to know is why out of the 3 instructions that I am selling on Ebay did this particular one get reported and pulled..??? Does it have something to do with Cuusoo maybe..???

wlego1.jpg

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You are selling three identical instructions and one got pulled?

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No, 3 differemt ones... Transmission Instructions, Vampire GT instructions, and the Porsche Instructions...

I've been selling the Porsche instructions for about 8 months now... They are the ones that are supposedly in violation...

Other than "Custom Lego Porsche Instructions" in the auction title, I am not using their Logo or anything...

Here is one of the older listings...

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Ahh, if you are selling non-original instructions of your own making, and are using anything lego trademarked/copyrighted, e.g. a logo you could be in infringement of copyright. It may be that it has taken them 8 months to notice/get around to it and they have only taken the one example, (so far)

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Weird, there seem to be quite a lot of other not-strictly-Lego things with "Lego" in the name (compatible parts, chromed parts, other instructions) so it doesn't seem that that one set of instructions stands out. I wonder if it was a complaint by some random that sparked this?

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My guess is that your MOCs make TLG's own supercars look bad, and they don't like that :laugh:

Edited by jantjeuh

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Hi

Heppeng is right. They pulled your instructions because you used that 'Lego' with your product description. You are NOT selling LEGO instructions, you are selling 'Boratko Instructions' can be used with Lego Bricks. See the difference? Your product (the instructions) pretend while using the Lego brand name to be originals from Lego. But they are FOR Lego.

Many eBay sellers in Germany add to their auctions so,ething similar like "All brands belongs to their owner blabla...".

That mistake you did is mixing up a product description (For Lego bricks) with a brand name (Lego).

I am sorry for you they did that. Pleople like you causing Lego to have MORE profit - not less.

Lawyers....

Dino

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No, 3 differemt ones... Transmission Instructions, Vampire GT instructions, and the Porsche Instructions...

I've been selling the Porsche instructions for about 8 months now... They are the ones that are supposedly in violation...

Other than "Custom Lego Porsche Instructions" in the auction title, I am not using their Logo or anything...

Here is one of the older listings...

Could it be that is has something to do with Porsche instead of Lego. Maybe Porsche doesn't approve you selling instructions to build one of their cars.

I know they were very reluctant to cooperate with the computer game Gran Turismo. Instead of Porsche, GT used RUF, the tuned version of Porsche.

On the other hand, if that where the case, Porsche should have contacted you.

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Could it be that is has something to do with Porsche instead of Lego. Maybe Porsche doesn't approve you selling instructions to build one of their cars.

I know they were very reluctant to work on the computer game Gran Turismo. Instead of Porsche, GT used RUF, the tuned version of Porsche.

On the other hand, if that where the case, Porsche would have contacted you.

I would love a letter from Porche, wether it be positive OR negative. xD

I have always wondered why they used RUF instead...

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Allegedly Porsche didn't want players to crash their cars, which would be bad for the image of the brand. Or something like that. The latest installment of the game (GT6) does have Porsche in it, so I reckon they have changed their perspective.

But that's why I thought it might be a Porsche objection instead of Lego. But it's a long shot.

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I do know that Porsche have trademarked the characteristic 'shape' of their cars.

The plot thickens :sweet:

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Wow Porche seem very protective of their work.

They sure are!

But we're not sure that Porsche is behind this. After all, Lego Juris needs to be contacted.

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I doubt it is a problem with Lego, but rather with Porsche.

Anyway, Paul, do you want me to report that to Lego through the Ambassador program, or is it ok ?

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Hi

this can not be a Porsche problem, two other non-Porsche instructions have been pulled as well.

Would be nice if we get details what went wrong. Not details that are individual for Paul but those that can prevent other instruction sellers to be pulled as well. There is a Lego ambasador selling famous SW instructions ;)

Dino

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Does this mean that Moc-plans and Rebrickable may be doomed since they link places were people can buy custom instructions?

Edited by Alasdair Ryan

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At one time I was associated with security at eBay and can recall horror stories involving VeRO. I can tell you, without a doubt, someone reported a listing to TLG, who then notified eBay of the 'violation.' VeRO policy is a lot like what happens on Youtube, it's basically guilty with no interest in being proven innocent, it's not worth the time or effort to them to debate or judge whether a claim is valid, they just pull the item and move on. Repeated problems can lead to a ban, so it's somewhat frustrating given the fact that your listing may be no different from 1000 others, except someone turned it in.

Contacting LEGO Juris A/S may help, if you can make them understand the nature of your product and stop reporting you. You're basically at their mercy, so tread lightly, try to understand their position and hope for the best. TLG is VERY protective of their products, much more than I've seen from other companies, so it may be a difficult process, at best.

Good luck.

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I think Darth Dino was right here. The way the listing was done it was not clear that your listings were not related to TLG in any way.

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I spit on VeRO, it was a very bad idea if the owner isn't verified accurately.

One of my auction for a rare NES (Nintendo game) was getting pulled by VeRO Direct TV

????

I checked, there was no mention, not even just a word dish. I called, they couldn't figure out why and cancelled the suspension on me. I relisted, it was pulled again.

I reworded the title and description, and made sure the picture didn't show anything beside the NES game and the generic holiday themed table cloth. eBay still couldn't figure out why my auction was reported as violating a dish company's rule and it was still pulled. By then I had spent over 3 hours on phone with no less than 20 different people. I'd probably would have had more useful answer if I walked to McDonald's and ordered Loco Taco and Bud Light while wearing nothing but pink tutu. :tongue:

I eventually sold it on a gaming forum for $200. That's about $20 in listing and FVF that eBay NEVER got because of idiot VeRO reporting incorrectly or possibly a competitor abusing VeRO to kill competition. I know I am not the only one who had problem like this, I bet hundred other sellers were also affected and quite likely a few thousand dollars a month worth of potential FVF was never collected. I believe it's that time the CEO stopped ordering $10 cigars and started using cheaper $9 cigars.

That was 5 years ago and I haven't had any pulled auction at all since I sold that NES game.

Edited by Lego Otaku

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Make another account, say its a 'race car for technical bricks', basically using no brand names like lego or porche.

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What if TLG is making their own technic porsche? VW and Porsche are basicly the same company (one owned by another) and we know that TLG cooperates nicely with VW (both campers, beetle...)

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I noticed Shadows said Lego are very protective of their products, how come there are hundreds of clone brands then?

Edited by MrNumbskull13

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I doubt it is a problem with Lego, but rather with Porsche.

Anyway, Paul, do you want me to report that to Lego through the Ambassador program, or is it ok ?

Yes, that is fine... I would like to get some type of response on this...

Make another account, say its a 'race car for technical bricks', basically using no brand names like lego or porche.

The thing is that there are 100's of Lego listings on Ebay right now that are using Lego in the title for custom instructions.. What I don't understand is 1.) Why would this particular one get singled out from them and 2.) why would it get singled out from my other 2..???

I could easily change up the listing and remove both names, but why would anyone really have an issue..? I mean I am promoting one product in Porsche and helping to sell another in Lego...

Perhaps I should add the ® symbol to the Lego name and Porsche name..?

Hi

this can not be a Porsche problem, two other non-Porsche instructions have been pulled as well.

Would be nice if we get details what went wrong. Not details that are individual for Paul but those that can prevent other instruction sellers to be pulled as well. There is a Lego ambasador selling famous SW instructions ;)

Dino

Which ones were pulled..?

Edited by Paul Boratko

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