Rules about intellectual property - overview

Restricted

The following items are restricted or prohibited because they may infringe on intellectual property or other proprietary rights of third parties. Click each link for more information.

• Academic, beta, and OEM software

• Certain branded accessories, packaging, warranties, or other items offered without the accompanying branded product  

• Media, including:

  • Digitally delivered goods

  • Movie prints (35 mm, 70 mm)

  • Perfumes and cosmetics

  • Recordable media

Not allowed

The following items aren't allowed on eBay. Click each link for details on our policies.

• Beta software

• Bootleg recordings

• Items that may enable unauthorized copies, including:

  • Hardware or software that would enable duplication of copy-protected material

  • Modchips, game enhancers, and boot disks

• Replicas, counterfeit items, and unauthorised copies

Not allowed

 In a listing, eBay members cannot:

• Encourage or enable others to infringe copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights of third parties

• Improperly use eBay intellectual property including use of the eBay name or logo and linking to the eBay website

• Include authenticity disclaimers or deny responsibility for the items offered in their listings

• Use someone else's item description or picture without their permission. If you believe someone else is using your text or photos without your permission, report it to us

If you're the Verified Rights Owner

Only intellectual property rights owners can report eBay listings that infringe their copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights. If you are a rights owner, you can file a report from the VeRO: Reporting an Infringement page.

If you're not the rights owner

Even if you're not the rights owner, you can still help by getting in touch with the owner and encouraging them to contact us.

Some rights owners who participate in the VeRO programme have created a participant page so you can find out more about their products and legal positions. Though not all VeRO participants have a page, those that do can be found at our VeRO participant pages.

If your listing was removed

We encourage you to take our intellectual property tutorial to learn how to avoid having your listings removed because they are alleged to infringe on the intellectual property rights of third parties .

If you believe your listing was removed in error, learn more about how eBay protects intellectual property (VeRO). For more information, visit the following pages:

• VeRO: Information for eBay Users

• What is VeRO and why was my listing removed because of it?