Need Help with something LEGO related from a legal perspective

[Nathan734]

I submitted a design (Parts list + custom instructions) to moc.bricklink.com and recently discovered that a user on Ebay is apparently selling the bricks to make the design and then e-mailing the buyer instructions (The listing also uses photos originally from the moc.bricklink.com page). After contacting Ebay's Verified Right's Owner Program (VeRO) with a Notice of Claimed Infringement (NoCI) form, the representitive said that the case as described didn't sound like intellectual property infringement so the listing wasn't taken down. If the seller actually is distributing the instructions I made without permission, then that is against the Digitally Delivered Goods policy for Ebay sellers (http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/downloadable.html), yet that's not for certain and it would be difficult to prove without buying a copy (and because the listing is private previous buyers of the item cannot be contacted to find out the specifics of what's going on).

For reference here is the link to the moc.bricklink.com page http://moc.bricklink.com/pages/moc/mocitem.page?idmocitem=3997

and the link to the Ebay page where the design is apparently being sold http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lego-Custom-San-Francisco-Cable-Car-Minifigure-Scale-Train-Car-Passenger-MOC-/201745851286?hash=item2ef8fd6396:g:NO8AAOSwnHZYTFC3

So, what if anything can be done now?

[L@go]

Oh, another douchebag who sells other people's instructions. This time along with the parts needed, at a hefty price. How nice. A lot of swiped stuff there - Jason Allemann's kinetic sculptures, Iain Heath's Stephen Hawking, and a couple of L.G. Orlando's (Brick City Depot) modulars...

It seems eBay are getting lazier and lazier when it comes to removing this kind of content, too. In some cases they don't even seem to read the complaints properly. I haven't been exposed to this (yet) but I don't know what I'd do if it happened. I imagine I'd just give up. It feels like too much of an obstacle to climb. Here's another example of a MOCer who has recently tried to fight a swiper on eBay.

I've sent emails to the other three I mentioned. Maybe you could team up with them to take this guy out?

Best of luck anyway. I fear you'll need it.

EDIT: Found the tank, too, it's by Stefano Mapelli. The seller has just neatly removed everything that he didn't like from the pictures.

And here's the Baker Street one and here's the Apple Store.

[dr_spock]

How about sending a cease and desist letter to the seller?   If seller failed to comply, then you can try to sue them for damages.