Thinking of walking from the Magic Kingdom to Epcot? Think again!

People, especially those who haven’t been to Walt Disney World in many years, always comment to me about how huge WDW really is. Actually, most people don’t realize how much land WDW actually encompasses. In fact, it’s about about 80 times the size of the entire nation of Monaco, twice the size of Manhattan, and the same size as San Francisco, California! So when you say WDW is huge, you ain’t kidding!

The Walt Disney World Resort is made up of 47 square miles of land…. or about 30,000 acres. Only about 1100 acres of that land is devoted to the 4 theme parks. In fact, with only 7,100 acres developed, there’s quite a lot of room for expansion!

But how (and why) did Disney buy up all that land?

Back in the early 1950s, Anaheim, the home of Disneyland, was a quiet little town, surrounded by nothing more than acres and acres of orange groves. Originally, Walt Disney wanted his new, 8-acre theme park to be built near his Burbank studios, but soon realized that such little space would not be enough. So, he purchased over 160 acres of orange groves and walnut trees in Anaheim near the junction of the Santa Ana Freeway and Harbor Boulevard, and built his “Magic Kingdom” inside its borders (while moving 15 existing houses in the process). Today, Disneyland encompasses fewer than 300 acres, which includes Disney’s California Adventure and additional hotel properties. Relatively speaking, all of Disneyland could fit inside of Epcot.

Regrettably, Walt Disney did not buy enough land surrounding Disneyland, and soon after the park opened it was surrounded by tacky hotels, tourist gift shops and restaurants. His dream of a completely contained theme park for families was now tainted with views of billboards and fast-food restaurants. Walt vowed that if he ever built another theme park, he would not make the same mistake twice. He would be sure that they could control the surroundings, which would include campgrounds, and first-class facilities for recreation and accommodation.

In the early 1960’s, Walt and a team of Imagineers, including his brother Roy and General Joe Potter (can you find his name somewhere in Walt Disney World?)embarked on a super-secret endeavor, known simply as “Project X” (later known as “Project Florida”) to scour the nation in search for a new location for a second theme park. First and foremost, they were looking for a lots of land… cheap! Second they wanted it to be near a major city, with good weather and great highways and infrastructure. Reportedly, when Walt’s plane crossed over the intersection of I-4 and Route 192 in Florida, he knew he found his spot.

But how does Walt Disney go and buy up thousands of acres of land without the landowners holding out for exorbitant prices? He doesn’t. Sort of. Walt Disney set up dozens of “dummy” corporations, with names like “M.T. Lott” (get it? Empty Lot?), the “Latin-American Development and Managers Corporation” and the “Reedy Creek Ranch Corporation” to purchase seemingly worthless parcels of land ranging from swampland to cattle pastures. By May of 1965, there had been major land purchases recorded in Osceola and Orange Counties (just southwest of Orlando), although no one realized (or suspected at first) that Disney had anything to do with it. One of the earliest purchases included 8,500 acres owned by Florida state senator Irlo Bronson.

In late June of that same year, the Orlando Sentinel reported in an article that over 27,000 acres had recently changed hands. Speculation began that large corporations such as Ford, McDonnell-Douglas, Hughes Aircraft, and Boeing, (as Kennedy Space Center was located nearby), as, yes, even Walt Disney. In October, though, Orlando Sentinel reporter Emily Bavar, having her suspicions confirmed after various non-responsive answers from Disney employees, released the story that it was Walt Disney who had been secretly behind the purchases of all of this land. Of course, once it was revealed that Disney was behind the purchases, the prices of land jumped more than 1000%! That’s partially why Walt bought his first acre of land in Florida for Walt Disney World for $80.00 and his last for $80,000.00!

Disney quickly scheduled a press conference and confirmed the story. With the governor of the state of Florida and his brother Roy by his side, Walt described the $000 million dollar project that would become Walt Disney World. In exchange for bringing such a boost to the area’s economy, the creation of thousands of jobs, and improvements to the environment and infrastructure of central Florida, Disney was given permission to establish their own, autonomous government, known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District. This quasi-government gave Disney the ability to create their own building codes, do his own zoning and planning of roads and bridges, and create his own residential community, among other perks.

When Walt Disney purchased the 47 square miles that was to become the Walt Disney World Resort as we know it today, it was nothing more than a desolate swampland, scrub forests, and groves. In order to transform this area into the number one vacation destination in the world, massive amounts of Earth had to be moved. Additionally, since much of central Florida is essentially “floating” on a body of water, a daunting challenge presented itself. Disney had to transform this land, while balancing the needs of the environment and ecology of the area. If any part of the water supply was damaged or deleted, it would have caused a massive ecological imbalance to the region.

The first thing Disney did was set aside a 7,500 acre Conservation Area in 1970, which would never be built on. This would preserve cypress trees as well as provide land for the area’s natural inhabitants. Second, they developed an engineering marvel by creating a system of more than 55 miles of canals and levees to control water levels. Disney Imagineer John Hench designed this network of canals to blend into the natural landscape, rather than being constructed in straight lines. The mechanism that control the water levels are completely automated, and require no monitoring and little maintenance. Pretty impressive, considering the property is about twice the size of Manhattan!

Currently, the two municipalities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista are home to Walt Disney World. These two cities are governed by Disney employees who live on the property in a small cluster of homes “backstage”. Although the permanent residential population of these cities is very small (population 20 in 2003), it hosts millions of families who, for a brief period, call Bay Lake “home.”

Over the years, an additional 3,000 acres was purchased by Disney, bringing the Walt Disney World Resort’s total size to over 30,000 acres. Less than one year after the formal public announcement that it was in fact the Disney Company that had purchased all of that land near the intersections of major Highways U.S. 192 and Interstate 4, he stated;”Here in Florida, we have something special that we never enjoyed at Disneyland . . . the blessing of size. There’s enough land here to hold all the ideas and plans we can possibly imagine.” With only about 1/4 of the entire property developed, it looks like he was right.

For many of us who are thinking of promoting your business or services, where would you think are the best place to place your ads?

There are many places in Singapore where you can post your flyers to advertise your services and businesses. Listed below are the locations where message boards are set up to post your ads.

The most common type of ads posted there are tuition ads, room rental ads, recruitment ads, garage sale ads & lost pets ads, etc.

1. Notice boards outside MRT Stations along the east-west line.

These are free to post by anyone. They are located outside Lakeside, Jurong East, Clementi, Redhill, Outram Park, Lavender, Bedok and Pasir Ris MRT stations. The ads are posted on a frst come first serve basis, and the maximum size of ad allowed is A4. The posted ads are removed by a cleaning contractor on the 1st and 15th of each month.

2. Notice boards at Hdb estates in Sembawang, Woodlands and Yishun.

These are free to post by anyone.They are located in the northern part of Singapore. Almost every blks in these estates have a white notice board installed near the letter box area. The surfce area of these notice boards are about the size of six A4 ads. The maximum size of each ad allowed is A5. The ad are also removed on the 1st and 15th of each month.

3. Cold Storage and NTUC Finest stores throughout Singapore.

These notice boards are located inside the supermarkets and your ads have to be submitted to the store manager for review. Once approved, the ads will be pin onto the message board on every Monday evening. The ads are allowed to stay on the message board for one week. The maximum size of each ad allowed is half of A5.

4. Commercial Buildings next to JCube, Jurong East Gateway Road Blks 130- 135.

These notice boards are free to post by anyone.They are located in the western part of Singapore. There is no control over the amount and size of ads posted there. The ads are removed by another advertiser who need to post their ads.

5. Bukit Batok Central, next to bus interchange & West Mall.

These notice boards are maintain by town council in Bukit Batok. They are located in the western part of Singapore. The size of ads to be submitted to the town council for review must be A4 and 10 copies are required. Once approved, the ads are allowed to be displayed for 30 days.

6. Bus stops display panels approved by LTA.

The bus stops are mainly located in west part of Singapore Boon Lay, Jurong West, Jurong East. Some are in east part of Singapore Tampines. The rest are in the north Yishun.

Overheated semi truck brakes are something that no driver wants to have to deal with. And often, this kind of problem can be prevented entirely. However, there are cases in which the brakes overheat – and sometimes even catch fire!-before the problem is identified.

It’s important to get regular checkups to ensure that your brakes are in good condition. This will reduce the chance of your brakes overheating while you’re driving, which is dangerous for you and other drivers on the road.

What are the Most Common Reasons for Brake Fires?

There are a number of reasons as to why your semi truck brakes might overheat and catch fire. These reasons include:

Poor Braking Method

Not every driver uses the right braking method. Are you ever guilty of this? If so, you should work to get in the habit of braking correctly! If you see or smell smoke after braking, you need to pull over and turn the truck off right away. If you’re on a downhill slope, get to the bottom of the hill and stop there.

Dragging Brakes

Brakes that are dragging as you drive can lead to issues such as overheated brakes. Not just that, but also wheel bearing failure or wheel grease fires that can even make their way to the tires of the truck. This kind of issue is most common on the rear trailer of the semi truck.

Poorly-Balanced Brakes

A brake imbalance can result in the overheating of disc brakes. This can lead to the bearing grease catching fire. Poorly-balanced brakes occur most often in a multiple-trailer semi when not all of the trailers are braking properly, thus the imbalance.

Wheel Bearing Failure

As stated above, dragging brakes can result in failed wheel bearings. This means that the wheel axis is off the center line of the axle. When it’s off-center and the brakes are dragging, a fire can occur from overheating. Plus, when one is off-center, another might soon follow, causing even further issues.

What You Can Do to Lower Your Chances of Overheating

It’s important that you get regular maintenance checkups with a mobile tire truck repair or 24-hour truck tire repair service in order to lower your chances of experiencing serious problems on the road. It is also important that, if you do notice anything strange while driving, you pull over and do your own inspection or call a mobile truck repair service or 24-hour truck repair service to give you a hand and make sure that your truck is safe to drive.

You can conduct your own inspection by looking at the brakes, wheels, and tires, checking for blown wheel seals and other potential issues. You should also make sure that there is no buildup of oil or grease around the wheels, axles, and engine.

What to Do if a Fire Starts on Your Truck

If any part of your semi does start fire, use your fire extinguisher to attack the base of the fire. You should then call a truck road service company to get help.

Wage garnishment is one of the most frightening and life-disrupting things that can happen to someone. You make plans for the money you earn and suddenly find that you are not going to be getting nearly as much in your paycheck as you thought. And that lower paycheck is going to be your reality for, possibly, quite a long time. There are a lot of myths and misinformation out there about wage garnishment or wage levy and, if you are in this position now or in the near future, you definitely need the facts.

Myth #1 – No one can take money out of my paycheck without my permission.

This is a myth. Your employer will receive a notice of garnishment and, by law, has to comply. He or she doesn’t have to speak with you or ask you permission. It will just happen.

Myth #2 – Wage garnishment will happen without any warning ahead of time.

This myth is the flip side of #1. Though the government does NOT need your permission to start garnishing you wages they DO have to give you notice. You will receive several notices BEFORE any money is taken out of your pay. You will receive a Notice and Demand for Payment and then, 30 days before the levy starts, you will get a Final Notice.

Myth #3 – One you receive your Final Notice there is nothing you can do to stop wage garnishment.

This is a myth too. Once you get that Final Notice you have 30 days to arrange a hearing before the garnishment of wages begins. You still have time to work out a payment schedule on your own terms rather than submitting to the terms of the garnishment.

Myth #4 – They have to leave enough in my paycheck so that I can pay my bills.

This is another myth. Based on last year’s guidelines, you could be left with as little as $179.81 per week for a single person, or $289.42 for a married couple.

Myth #5 – My boss can fire me if my wages are garnished.

This is a little trickier. Your employer is prohibited by law from firing you for your first wage levy. However, if you have two or more garnishments you can be fired.

Myth #6 – Wages can only be garnished for taxes or child support.

This is definitely a myth. Your wages can be garnished for student loans in default, unpaid court fines, and any kind of monetary judgment from a court, in addition to child support and taxes.

Myth #7 – They can only garnish my wages for one debt at a time.

This is not true. Your wages can be garnished for multiple debts all at the same time. And, as mentioned in Myth #5, your employer can fire you for more than one garnishment.

The most important information you should take from this is that there is a lot of misinformation out there about wage garnishment. Be sure to get all the facts BEFORE the garnishment starts. Talk to an expert about your options and about what laws exist to protect you. It’s much easier to negotiate before the garnishment starts than to change the garnishment provisions after it has begun. Don’t wait – get help right away!

In today’s economy foreclosures seem to happen everyday. By fully understanding the process you can have a better grasp of your situation and help you make the most effective decision possible. If you are facing a Nebraska foreclosure it is important that you understand some basics:

Nebraska has a Non Judicial process under power of sale and deed of trust.

The foreclosing party or bank must record a notice of default at least one month before receiving notice of sale and mail a copy to you with in 10 days. After thirty days expire, notice of sale is then published once a week for 5 consecutive weeks. Notice of sale must be sent to borrower twenty days prior to sale.

You may reinstate by paying the amount due to the lender within a month after redecoration of notice of default.

Deficiency judgments may be obtained by filing a separate lawsuit within 90 days of foreclosure sale.

Now that you’ve read the basics here are some reasons why homeowners may be facing foreclosure: Divorce, death in family, inheritance, job relocation, job loss. There may be many other reasons but these are the main ones.

Nebraska foreclosure starts when homeowners are unable to make mortgage payments. Then the bank sends out a notice that the foreclosure process has began. After the bank begins the process, usually it takes around 60 days, the house is reposed by the lender and sold for the balance that you owed on the property.

There are ways that homeowners are able to avoid the foreclosure but homeowners aren’t always able to steer clear. Once the process has begun there are although it may seem impossible to stop there are several ways for homeowners to stop foreclosure. You can go to the lender and ask the lender for a loan modification. This is simply asking the lender if you are able to pay less money for a shorter amount of time. It is negotiable depending on the lender and circumstances. Also you can pay the balance due within the time frame of the foreclosure sale before the home is repossessed and sold. Also you can pay the entire loan balance before the house is sold.

There are many reasons why homeowners may not want to be foreclosed on, but the main reason are loss of home and damaged credit. Although it seems stressful and impossible it cane be overcome.

Dismissing a maid may be inevitable and it happens and it should happen if you fall out with her beyond redemption. If a maid constantly steals from you, you have no choice but to terminate the relationship. A maid may also turn your house into an entertaining guest house for her friends and boyfriends (this often done by untrained maids), you are left with no choice but to terminate her.

But sometimes dismissal may be for unfair reasons that have nothing go to do with the maid’s performance or misdemeanours. In such a situation you should be very careful and avoid landing at the CCMA.

Should you find yourself in a need to get read of your maid rather retrench other than dismiss her. Retrenchment is due to inevitable problems such as financial problems or relocation.

But whatever you do try to follow your actions by the letter to avoid time consuming visits to the CCMA here is the Sectoral Determination 7 for domestic workers, which provides special rules governing the termination of employment for domestic workers (maids).

Rules for firing a maid:

1. A maid should be given a notice period before termination of contract:

If a maid worked for 6 months or less she is entitled to a weeks notice. If she has been in your employment for more 6 months she is entitled to a months notice.

The employer and the maid may agree on a longer notice period.

2. Notice of termination may not be given during any period of leave entitled to worker, except sick leave.

3. Employer must still pay the maid during the notice period.

4. Employer must pay the worker all monies due to the worker which include:

• wages
• allowances or other payments
• paid time off

5. Employer should provide accommodation for the maid if the employer terminates the contract of employment before the date on which the house helper is entitled to.

6. The employer should provide:

• 1 month accommodation or until the contract is lawfully terminated.

7. Retrenched maids are entitled to one week severance pay for every year of service.

8. When a maid is terminated he or she is entitled to a certificate of service. The certificate must state:

• Domestic worker’s full name
• Name and address of an employer
• Date of commencement and termination of employment
• Title of job and brief description of work
• Any relevant training received
• Pay received at termination
• Reason for termination

9. If a maid is unfairly dismissed, the maid can contact the CCMA based on legislation in section 37 of the BCEA( Basic Condition of Employment Act).

If a taxpayer receives a CP 504 and then ignores it, the repercussions are immediate and quite serious. This notice is only sent after two previous notices (CP 501 and CP 503) have failed to get the attention of the taxpayer. The debtor must understand that when the CP 504 IRS notice is received, the IRS is ready to assume a very aggressive stance with regard to collection. If an immediate response to this notice is not forthcoming from the taxpayer, the IRS final notice, also known as the Federal Tax Lien Notice, is dispatched. At this point, assets are precariously close to getting levied. In most scenarios, the CP 504 incorporates the introduction of the tax levy and the mark of the beginning of serious IRS tax problems for the debtor.

There are a few tax resolution firms and tax experts existent who can ably assist the debtor in resolving these specific IRS tax problems. If a person is capable of clearing the balance fully, then he must immediately do so. This can stop the tax levy or tax lien before it actually has begun. But the current financial downturn has adversely affected the financial position of many households. Jobs have been lost, hours have been reduced, and employees have been laid off. Hence, many people are defaulting on their regular tax payments for the first time. Taxpayers sometimes make the mistake of shying away from their IRS tax problems with the understandable, but quite unrealistic, hope that they’ll be forgotten by the agency. One must remember that hiding from the IRS is not only impractical, but is, in fact, illegal.

After each notice is served to the taxpayer, ample time is permitted the debtor to resolve the IRS tax problem. However, the taxpayer will be severely penalized for neglect and procrastination in addressing the debt. After the IRS dispatches the CP 504, a time period of 30 days is provided the taxpayer. Once this has passed, the levy is instituted and a wage garnishment begins. Along with a timely response to the CP 504, the taxpayer must endeavor to pay as much as possible of the amount due within this allotted time frame. The balance accumulates interest that is compounded daily. There is also a penalty assessed because of late payment. Hence, the smaller the unpaid amount the lesser the financial burden. As is so often the case, with respect to the CP 504 and other IRS tax problems which confront the taxpayer, a proactive approach is always advantageous and will lead to a quicker and more equitable resolution.

What is a Notice Of Intended Prosecution? If I receive one what should I do and is there any way that I can fight this?

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty first and discuss what a notice of intended prosecution (NIP) is. The issuance of a NIP is in accordance with s172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and requires the registered keeper of a vehicle to identify who was driving the vehicle at the time a motoring offence was committed.

An example where the need to identify accurately the driver of a vehicle can best be demonstrated by considering hit and run accidents which result in death. According to Department of Transport Figures in 2008 approximately 3% (110) deaths were caused by hit and run drivers so any successful prosecution is going to hinge on accurate proof of who was driving and when.

Under the Act, if the keeper of the vehicle cannot remember who was in fact driving the vehicle at the time of the offence then the keeper may still be liable to prosecution. So a ‘poor memory’ is not necessarily a defence that will hold any water.

As one can imagine under such a circumstance it would be strongly advised to get a competent and specialist driving offence solicitor.

Additionally it should also be pointed out that a common misconception held by the public is that NIPs are only issued for speeding offences and in particular for speed camera fines. A list of some of the main offences include:

1. Driving without due care and attention.

2. Dangerous driving.

3. Mobile Phone offences

4. Traffic light offences and

5. Speeding.

This list is by no means exhaustive but should highlight the wide variety of offences that a notice of intended prosecution can cover.

Now that you have an idea of what s172 and of what a notice of intended prosecution is – What can be done about it?

The first logical question you have to ask yourself (and a bit of honesty is required here!) Is how serious is the offence?

Let’s face it a hit and run accident that results in death or serious injury is going to be much more serious than speed camera fines. Additionally if you have been charged with drink driving – then that is a much more serious dilemma. A drink driving charge will be heard before a Magistrates Court and is a criminal offence not a motoring offence and again as I mentioned before in such serious cases a competent solicitor to give you advice is highly desirable.

OK, assuming that you have been issued with a NIP and let us surmise that it is for a speed camera fine one of the first steps is to know that a NIP must be issued and served on the driver or registered keeper within 14 days.

Now before you decide to ‘go it alone’ and assume you have a valid defence – think again! This is where you need to get an expert because if you complete the Notice of Intended Prosecution incorrectly or do nothing with the Notice you may end up with more penalty points and a higher fine that you would have possibly received had you dealt with the Notice of Intended Prosecution correctly in the first place.

Looking at for example a more serious offence such as drink driving, traffic offence solicitors and especially Drink driving solicitors are worth their weight in gold. I’m not suggesting for one minute that you may ‘get off’ some sort of penalty, especially if the evidence is irrefutable but that the potential penalties can to some extent be mitigated and in some cases a good driving offence solicitor may be able to challenge the driving offence successfully in court and have the Magistrates acquit you or force the prosecution to drop a case where the correct drink driving or speeding laws have not been correctly adhered to.

Usually a proper presentation by a legal expert in this field can help your fight, possibly defeat and or mitigate any penalties that may arise from a driving offence and always expert advice from a road traffic solicitor is always advisable.

Any landlord who has had the misfortune of having their eviction suit dismissed will tell you that if you don’t get the 3-Day Notice right, you are running the risk of having to spend more money to re-file your suit, and paying the tenant’s attorney fees. There are many nuances to this filing that will lead to a dismissal of your suit, but for the purposes of this article we will be specifically addressing when the Broward County Court requires an 8-Day Notice rather than the standard 3-Day version.

Chapter 83, the Florida statute with which all landlords should be familiar, provides a statutory guideline for filing a 3-Day notice in Florida. Although the statute is designed to be simple, many jurisdictions have interpreted it in different ways, making it difficult for a non-lawyer to successfully evict a tenant. Broward County is one of those jurisdictions where there is a split among judges.

In Broward County, some judges will dismiss your case if you do not add 5 extra days to the 3-Day notice. Depending on the judge you get, this could end up costing you a lot of money. If your case gets dismissed, you might have to pay the Tenant’s attorney fees in addition to the cost of re-filing the suit. This is different than the prevailing case law in Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and most other counties in Florida which follow the guidelines of Chapter 83 closely.

Although the statute clearly states that you need to give the tenant a 3-Day Notice, several judges in Broward County will require that the tenant be given 5 extra days for mailing if you and the tenant live in different cities such as West Palm Beach, different counties, or different states. In one case, the tenant and the landlord lived 2.3 miles apart. However, because they lived in different counties, the judge dismissed the case and ordered the landlord to pay attorney fees, even though the landlord complied with the statute. This might seem illogical or unfair to landlords, but it is the state of the law in Broward County.

The solution seems clear for landlords trying to do an eviction in Ft. Lauderdale, and Broward County in general. If you are unsure of whether you should post the 3-Day or the 8-Day Notice, consider whether you and the tenant live in different cities, counties, or states. It is best to deliver 8 days of notice and have a successful eviction, rather than risk your case being dismissed and paying attorney fees to the tenant.

This guide examines the legality of the eBay VeRo take-down procedure. If you trade on eBay you may know what it is like when one of your competitors requests eBay to take-down your listings based on alleged violations of copyright. What happens when you follow eBay’s procedures to fight back but they don’t work? This guide explains what other legal options you have to stop your competitor doing this.

If you run a small business selling products through an online auction site such as eBay you would be very familiar with how frustrating it can be when you are faced with fake take-down notices by a rival trader who claims that your auction listing infringes their copyright rights. Unfortunately these kinds of fake take-down notices under the eBay VeRO program are becoming more and more common, and are often not legitimate.

You make your living by selling your goods on eBay through e-commerce, but eBay VeRO take-downs are causing you to lose profits and customers to your competitors or other third-parties issuing fake take-down notices. You have tried to fight back to prevent these fake take-down notices by filing a counter-notice under the eBay VeRO program but eBay has just accepted the allegations made in the take-down notice that you have infringed a copyright owners’ rights.

The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) was enacted by the US Congress to stop infringement of copyright which occurs through the illegal reproduction of copyright on the internet. It was designed to encourage co-operation between copyright owners and online service providers like Internet Service Providers and other online intermediaries such as eBay from being held liable for copyright infringement liability, but only if they take prompt action to remove the allegedly infringing material. This is known as “safe harbor” protection, and eBay’s VERO program was developed to try to comply with the provisions of the DMCA to claim the immunity.

When the copyright owner contacts the service provider, ISP or web hosting company providing details of the infringement, the service provider who receives a notice of infringement is entitled to disable the website, therefore if eBay believe the take-down notice is valid they are able to disable your auction. By taking such action eBay are protecting themselves from infringement. eBay doesn’t have to conduct much investigation to determine that material is infringing.

However under the provisions of the DMCA and equivalent provisions in other jurisdictions you are entitled to be notified that the allegedly infringing material has been removed and are given an opportunity to send a written notice to eBay stating that you believe your material has been wrongly removed.

As an eBay trader you know you have the option of filing a counter-notice if you have good reason to believe that the take-down is unfair or illegal.

The problem is that service providers are pressured to take down materials to protect themselves from liability. Although eBay provides a means of explaining to eBay traders how to have their auctions re-instated, the reality is that counter-notice is either not investigated adequately or wrongly rejected by eBay. You unjustly receive a negative mark against your name as a trader which can accumulate and can eventually get you suspended from eBay even though you were the innocent party.

Take-downs based on alleged copyright infringement are often bogus, fraudulent and an abuse of the law. Abusive take-down notices which are bogus occur often because companies want to control who is selling their product. Companies also want to prevent sellers competing with their authorised dealers and rely on the small seller either not knowing or taking the trouble to fight a fraudulent take-down notice. Your rivals will also file take-down notices to try to eliminate their competition. The DMCA makes it very easy for unscrupulous traders to file fake take-down notices.

You can do something if eBay won’t protect you. You can file a legal action as if you have been the victim of a fraudulent take-down on eBay you may have a number of causes of action against the seller depending on the jurisdiction you bring your legal action. You may have an action for misleading and deceptive conduct, interference with contractual relations, libel and violation of the equivalent DMCA copyright legislation in Australia (Copyright Act)

This guide explains how tan eBayer in Chicago recently did just that to restrain a competitor from sending VERO take-down requests to eBay alleging copyright violation in goods they never held a valid copyright over. Copyright protection extends to certain products of the mind but it wasn’t intended to extend to industrial designs or ‘useful articles’. If you have reason to believe that a third-party is trying to protect something which doesn’t fall under copyright law, and eBay has not investigated your claims adequately, you can go to a Court and ask for an injunction to prevent a person from continuing to issue take-down notices.

A US Court recently heard a request for a temporary restraining order by an eBay trader against a rival eBay trader and held that the eBay trader who had sent the notice did not have any valid copyright over the items they had sent notices to eBay leading to their competitors’ auction listings being removed.

The Court recognised that the defendant had violated s512(f) DMCA by knowingly and materially misrepresenting that plaintiff’s eBay auctions contained infringing material. The court held the plaintiff would probably succeed as the Defendant didn’t have a valid copyright on their furniture, being a ‘useful article’ of commerce and not the subject of copyright protection.

Due to the risk of harm to the Plaintiff arising from the suspension of their activities and the loss of goodwill and customers, the court found that on balance, the injunction should be granted. The Court held that making the order would be in the public interest. The Court also made a remark indicating how permissive eBay’s policies were in taking down content based merely on an allegation of infringement, thus reversing the normal burden of proof which rests upon a plaintiff to discharge who alleges intellectual property infringement.

However the reality is that legislation such as the DMCA and the practical operations of business often mean that unfortunately Internet Service Providers, online auction sites and content hosts have to be the Police, Judge and Jury under the DMCA and do the best job that they can in responding to requests to take down material. Mistakes can occur.

The case serves as a reminder that EULA and TOS don’t always comply with law and that one should always look beyond the terms of service when evaluating whether or not a website is in compliance with the law.

EBAY routinely suspends users’ accounts and auction listings down at the request of a VERO member. The VeRo Program established the Verified Rights Owners Program to enable rights owners to easily report and request removal of listings offering items or containing materials that they allege infringe their intellectual property rights.

This is an easy method for rights owners to request auctions be removed from eBay without having to prove that the auction holder is infringing intellectual property rights of the owner, either in trademark or copyright. eBay treats the notification of the alleged infringement as tantamount to proof. VERO is a means for rights holders to take a shortcut to shut any trader down. There is little due process for an alleged violation of copyright rights of a VERO member. A court order is not required for an eBay program participant to inform eBay to shut down a vendor.

eBay has framed guidelines and policies describing items that cannot be listed on eBay and might expose you to risk. These includes items prohibited by law, those prohibited by eBay policy, and reported by a VeRO program participant. All the rights holder has to do is follow the take-down procedure. They don’t have to prove any of their accusations in a court of law, unless of course you do what Design Furniture did and force them to be accountable.

Any item which violates eBay policies or infringes on the copyrights of others may be removed and some listings are removed as the language or photos used in the item title or description violate eBay policy. This means that some items you may have purchased in a store, or even possibly on eBay, may not be allowed or could be removed due to listing policies.

This requires users and auction sellers to prove their innocence which is automatically granted to them until the point at which the intellectual property owner obtains a court order proving otherwise.

Online video services like YouTube have developed a notification mechanism to be eligible for the Safe Harbor protection from secondary copyright infringement charges. eBay has been using a similar procedure since 1997, a year before the DMCA was enacted. However the amount of power given to VeRO member leaves the system very open to misuse.

Rights holders have been using VeRO to suppress a vibrant secondary market for their goods and to restrict competition. There is a counter-notification procedure, as re quired by the DMCA, members wanting to object to the takedown are required to undergo a process by which they have to go to great lengths to get eBay involved in the counternotice process. If the rights holder claims the right being violated is a trademark right, not a copyright, being infringed, eBay will not send a counternotice to the user at all.

Notifying eBay of an infringing item is very easy, and a company only needs to file a form by fax, at which time they will be given an email address to expedite the process. Many interests who aren’t copyright holders at all misuse the VeRO process to have competitor’s auctions taken down. eBay states it has no tolerance for anti-competitive use of VeRO fraudulent notification of infringement is very easy.

Only three notifications by a VeRO member could lead to the suspension or termination of an eBay’s users account and infringement claims, and even if there is a successful counter-notice the infringement claims remain on the account holder’s record.

s512(f) DMCA Act provides for punishment for a false accusation through the VeRO program yet there hasn’t been one instance where this has occurred, despite studies showing 30% of notices demanding taken down for claims present a question for a court to consider. Thirty percent of notices demanded take-downs for claims that presented an obvious relating to whether certain material copyrightable, or where there existed a valid defence.