Public Citizen Litigation Group said the lawsuit it filed against Dymo Corp. on behalf of eBay seller Rene Mohl has been settled. According to the organization, the lawsuit sought to guarantee Mohl the right to state in his eBay listings that his printer labels were compatible with printers made by Dymo. It said Dymo Corp. had invoked eBay's VeRO program to terminate Mohl's auctions of compatible labels, claiming that he was infringing the company's "Dymo" trademark (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m04/i26/s01).

Dymo Corp. settled the case in mid-July. According to a press release issued by Public Citizen Litigation Group, Dymo Corp. agreed not to interfere with Mohl's right to inform consumers on eBay that he is selling compatible computer printer labels not manufactured by Dymo Corp.

A copy of the settlement agreement sent to AuctionBytes by Greg Beck of Public Citizen Litigation Group revealed that Dymo Corp. had agreed to pay $5,000 to the plaintiff's counsel, and that Dymo represented that its conduct "of the type alleged in the complaint" was improper and contrary to Dymo's policies,... and that it "has taken steps to ensure that it does not recur."

Beck said that while eBay is overwhelmed with hundreds of thousands of these notices, he would like to see eBay take a stand on some of the more frivolous cases. He said he hopes this case and others like it (he has additional cases pending) will show rights-holders that they are not free to file frivolous VeRO notices against eBay sellers.

Dymo Corp.s Public Relations manager did not return AuctionBytes phone calls seeking comment.

http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=2239