eBay is unwittingly inviting government regulation.

I too had an item removed. I have almost a 500 feedback with 99.1%. They tell me I was “violating intellectual property rights”. A complaint was received from a software company so they were required to cancel my auction. The only problem is that I was selling a BOOK. Several identical BOOKS were listed to end both before and after my auction. I checked this morning and one of those auctions finished and was not canceled! They canceled my listing, but not the listing that was already on the eBay system when they canceled mine. They let that other listing finish. This is totally unfair!!! I have contacted this software company by email and they have not answered me. All my work that went into the listing is gone, (research, pictures, etc.). I have no copy. eBay will not tell me what was wrong & they have destroyed the evidence, so how can I even defend myself?

Here is the text from their email (shortened):
”
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, SIIA (The Software & Information Industry Association), 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.

Copyright infringement is unlawful and against eBay’s policies. Copyright is the protection provided by law to the authors of creative works, such as movies, music, software, photographs and books, both published and unpublished. Copyright owners possess the exclusive right to reproduce the copyrighted work, to distribute copies of the copyrighted work, and to perform or display the copyrighted work publicly.

eBay prohibits the listing of unauthorized copies of copyrighted works. Unauthorized copies include (but are not limited to) backup, pirated, duplicated, or bootlegged copies.

Guideline: If the product you are selling is a copy of another work that you aren’t authorized to copy, don’t list the item.

Selling duplicated copies of copyrighted printed material is a copyright infringement and is not permitted on eBay.

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 SIIA (The Software & Information Industry Association) directly if you have any questions.
“