] Verified Rights Owner Program (VeRO) is eBay's version of
] the DMCA. Acrording to eBay, "eBay's VeRO Program was
] developed to facilitate cooperation between eBay and
] rights owners protecting their intellectual property
] rights." In other words, eBay just gave a select group of
] business owners carte blanche control over who can sell
] on eBay and what they can sell. This special class of
] eBayers can shoot first and ask questions later.

Interesting story. I think I agree with some of the comments about this having to be corrected by eBay or it will correct eBay. Choosing to adopt the principle of first sale or not is an important question for them -- do they expect to derive more as being an online authorized reseller, or is their real power from the small casual sellers.

I expect that if this keeps up, they will realize it is better to be eBay than Amazon. Because if people are just looking for bargains as authorized by the manufacturer, there are plenty of places. eBay is about being able to buy that super-obscure thing that someone happened to have. When I win an corporate branded Hummer, I want to be able to list it and not have the company revoke it.

VeRO: eBay's version of the DMCA || kuro5hin.org