yeamac 

I had a new in box pair of Bebop pedals to sell on ebay, without cleats. Knowing that Speedplay is more well known than Bebop, I decided to make the following my auction title, for maximum exposure:

NEW Bebop Clipless Pedals w/out Cleats beats Speedplay

My Bebop pedals sold with buy it now in less than 24 hours. About one hour after the auction ended I received the following from ebay:


> You recently listed the following auction-style listing:
>
> NEW Bebop Clipless Pedals w/out Cleats beats Speedplay
>
>
> The listing was removed because it violated eBay policy. All fees related to
> this listing have been credited to your account. We also notified members who
> placed bids on the item that the listing has been canceled.
>
>
> The rights owner, Speedplay, Inc., notified eBay that this listing violates
> intellectual property rights. When eBay receives a report of
> this type of violation, we remove the listing to comply with the law.
>
> Please be aware that any additional violations of this policy may result in
> the suspension of your account. eBay understands that you may be concerned
> about this situation.We encourage you to contact Speedplay, Inc. directly if
> you have any questions. You can send an email to:
>
> billsmith1@hotmail.com
>


After getting over the intial feeling of being in the first grade and having just been tattled on, I composed an email to Mr. Smith. The email came back as non-deliverable.

I just think it is sad that Speedplay demanded that ebay remove my ad because I expressed my opinion that I think Bebop is better. Not to mention my ad was up less than 24 hours, so someone at Speedplay is working pretty fast to contact ebay.

I think Bebop is better than Speedplay. I bought both, compared them, and chose Bebop.

I'm sorry if the above statement makes someone at Speedplay cry and pound their fists on the floor, screaming like a two-year-old, but it's the way I feel. Speedplay really has to come to grips with the fact not everyone is going to think they are the best pedal system in the world.

The funny part is, my Bebops still sold, AND ebay credited my fees for the auction.

blandin

Same thing happened to my a year or so ago when I was selling a Nikon camera with the manual on a cd-rom. Nikon had them pull it, because the manual was an unauthorized copy, which of course you can buy on ebay all day long. Go figure . . .

DrPete 

Listing other brands in the name of the auction to attract searches is against ebay policy, and actually a little annoying when you're looking for something.

brianappleby

with a fake email address, I wouldn't be suprised of some self righteous complainer reported your listing to ebay because he didn't like that you used speedplay's name.

You see people on this forum vehemently defending companies they have no affiliation with. I don't think it's much of a stretch to think that one of them reported you without speedplay even knowing.

stupid conspiracy theorist,
B.

yeamac 

Yes, but oh so helpful when you're trying to sell something.

roadpig2001

I used to use speedplay and went back to look. I use ebay ALOT ,since 2000, and I hate it when a seller uses another brand to attract more attention to their auction. Glad they busted you.

ecnetsixe

Yes I agree and Speedplay has the right to protect its brand name from being associated with crappy alternatives (your product may not actually be crappy but in their opinion it could provide confusion in the marketplace).

If you had of made a comment in your item description that 'in your opinion' they are better than speedplays then that would be fine. But you cant use the term 'speedplay' in your product listing 'title/name' when the product has no association with speedplay.

Dont get me started on issues of undermining intellectual capital (to which this is partially related)...thumbs up to speedplay!!!!!

ecnetsixe

+1 yep.

55/Rad

Pretty simple actually. Beyond the basic Ebay policy, you posted a claim you cannot back up in order to sell your product. Speedplay, knowing this, did what they had to in order to protect their brand. Basically, this amounted to a cease and desist. Hopefully for you, it will end there.

Do it again and you can be sure you'll hear from their lawyers.

Stating your opinion on a public forum is one thing. Using your unsubstantiated "opinion" to position a brand in order to sell another, is something completely different.

55/Rad

biffstephens

wow now that is funny.....

This is annoying

Topolino Revelation C19 wheelset - like mavic, zipp (current add)

I agree....

For me this is acceptable...

NEW Bebop Clipless Pedals w/out Cleats beats Speedplay

And just because the Speedplay guy is working a little overtime BUT he is not looking for the correct thing https://www.speedplaysucks.com has not been registered. A huge oversite in my opinion.....you could always register it and put up your own personal page about what happened...

https://www.allstateinsurancesucks.com/
https://disney-sucks.com/
https://www.uhaul-sucks.com/

Many many geeks with too much time on there hands....

orcanova

Just off the cuff here, given that Bebop pedals seem very similar in design to Speedplay, visually, and possibly designed close to them, with full knowledge where Speedplay's patents begin and end, I would be all over that in a nano-second, if I were Speedplay.

Whomever their patent law firm is, I would say they are doing their job. And secondly, regarding the e-mail bouce-back, if they are legally in the right, they don't need to furnish you with an e-mail as a vehicle to reach them, nor are the obligated to respond to you. The action (e-bay action) was their response. If you need to reach them, I'm sure you can leave a message at thier corrporate legal dept.

I know you are just a guy selling a pair of pedals on Ebay, and its not a big deal, but if they are feeling copied and/or infringed upon, they are set up to squash their competition, whether they are infringing on patents or just look similar enough to worry them...

JayC

I think Bill's only job is to watch Ebay. He had my Speedplay auction pulled down 3 times for intellectual property violations claiming my description was too close to Speedplay's website. I didn't do a cut and paste or anything, just typed up some specs, etc.

I ended up auctioning them off with the description of "Here are some Speedplay pedals and cleats. Please buy them!"

operator

So you were spamming your own auction thread in order for it to show up on more searches. And you are mad that ebay took out your auction?

I hate search term spammers.

JayC

Something like this? Funny that Speedplay doesnt seem to mind this.

https://cgi.ebay.com/Speedplay-Frog-B...QQcmdZViewItem

shabbasuraj

Scamplay pedals suck, so does scambay.

BrianJ1888

keyword spammers suck

JayC

You know, while you guys might think that this kind of description sucks (And I agree, it kind of does), have you ever LOOKED at Ebay? There are literally THOUSANDS of ads EXACTLY like that. Go do a search for PS3 or Wii and see how many Nintendo 64 (Not Wii or PS3) ads you see.

While I agree that Speedplay has a right to protect their IP, I think they abuse that right, given my own experience with them, and given Ebay's "Ask no questions, just pull the auction down" policy, that probably wont ever change.

55/Rad

Where in this ad does the seller disparage Speedplay? That's the difference - they don't - so Speedplay chooses to let it go.

It's one thing to state "Bebop, not Look or Speedplay" - this runs rampant on Ebay. It's another to state that they "beat Speedplay" without backing it up.

It's a freakin' ad - and the laws of advertising, while blatantly disregarded all the time on Ebay, still apply. Speedplay used this to have Ebay pull it.

mrbubbles

only if this was China, this would never happen

terrymorse 

The laws of advertising are blatantly disregarded all the time, everywhere.

But statements of opinion are legal:

Under current law, subjective statements and opinions which are not verifiable and cannot be measured are generally defensible as puffery because reasonable consumers would not take them seriously. — Adlaw.com

Mentioning a competitor in your copy is also legal (Pepsi vs Coke, for example). But if you make a statement of fact, you had better be ready to back it up with real facts.

Jamtastic

i had a speedplay chromo auction pulled twice for using the sticker they pack with their pedals in the photos. I said something like "everything in box included" and showed cleats, pedals, screws, stickers.

I got an email saying that it infringed on their copyright by using the image inappropriately. Posted auction again without the picture but it still said speedplay on the box which was pictured. They pulled it again. I finally just put a pic of the damn pedals.... non box, no cleat, no stickers. bob was cool with it then

Cyclist0383

It could also have something to do with the fact the Speedplay sued Bebop for patent infringement.....

https://www.ll.georgetown.edu/federal...s/98-1527.html

Cyclist0383

You've got to be kidding me.....that's WAY overboard......

Does any know what Speedplay's customer service is like? If they have time to harass people for selling their products they better have the best customer service in the industry....

roadwarrior

Exactly...I was chuckling at his ad, the way it was worded and the fact that they only took down the ad means they were being nice.
It could have gotten ugly, quickly.

ecnetsixe

They have obviously taken a hard line regarding ebay. They certainly arent the only brand that actively pursues a 'non-ebay-if-possible' product positioning strategy. Premium brands finding their way onto ebay opens the door for significant brand devaluation in certain cases (usually where their business model is significantly tied to patent protection). If you want to trade at a high market premium then these days you need a bloody tight distribution channel to avoid the branding perals associated with ebay. On the flip side for some brands ebay can be useful global marketing channel.

Speedplay are entitled to play tough with their brand.