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What exactly is this eBay seller doing? Is this considered counterfeiting?

I suggest you review the items for sale by an eBay seller named: presidentialcollectibles

It appears that this seller is using a new 2012 autopen machine and is counterfeiting, ( if that is the correct term?), celebrity autographs. The seller's description states that, "These signatures cannot be found anywhere else", so it is unclear if anyone else is also currently using this autopen device. Thus far, one can purchase a Neil Armstrong, John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe, Bruce Lee, Babe Ruth, or Elvis Presley autopenned ink signature, and according to the seller "provides high quality signature which is an exact replica of the original".

For obvious reasons, I find this 'new autopen machine' quite troubling. Aside from the potential influx of confounding new autotypes, does creating these autotypes represent an issue in intellectual property law? I am not a lawyer, but..................

Should the profits of sales of the 'new autopenned' signatures belong to the estate of the signators?

Examples:

Tags: al capone, autopen, babe ruth, counterfeit, elvis presley, forgeries, machine-signed, marilyn monroe, mike tyson, neil armstrong, More…obama

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Comment by Dr. Richard Saffro on September 16, 2012 at 11:52am: San Juan Bautista, CA 95045

Comment by BallroomDays67 on September 16, 2012 at 12:02pm: The Al Capone autopen was ended early by the seller, and it appears that the John Lennon and Elvis autopens may have been removed by eBay.

Comment by Dr. Richard Saffro on September 16, 2012 at 12:13pm: I just found another interesting seller. Please check out: Dailyhits7

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Abraham-Lincoln-Autographed-Handwritten-Let...

Could this Lincoln ALS be reproduced with the same technology? I emailed the seller to see if this item is copied or autopenned. More to follow.

Comment by Dr. Richard Saffro on September 16, 2012 at 12:20pm: When reviewing the items for sale from Dailyhits7, be sure to look at the other Lincoln, Sinatra ISP ( a beauty!), the Beatles, Marilyn Monroe, and the Apollo 11 crew TLS. How can this not be counterfeiting?

Comment by Mike Shepherd on September 16, 2012 at 12:30pm: If eBay is going to allow this type of behavior they should at least institute a policy that does not allow autopen signatures to be sold unless receipts indicate clearly that they are “autopen” and not “in marker” signatures. That is a simple solution. It is also clear that these items will be sold to unscrupulous individuals who will simply sell them as authentic at a later date. I am not sure where else a seller will be able to resell these items except on eBay but if eBay is serious about only allowing authentic items to be sold on their website it is in their best interest to do something about this. Hopefully PSA and JSA will be able to keep these items out of the hands of serious collectors but as you all know there is a college student out there that will purchase one of these items believing it to be authentic only to realize that it is a fake years later. Yet another reason to add to my list of why I avoid autographs sold on eBay.

Comment by Steve Zarelli on September 16, 2012 at 2:17pm: The "Dailyhits" reproductions appear to be no more than copies, which I am sure in-hand would be detectable. Probably taken from the Heritage Auction archives.

By the way, I noticed the Heritage Auctions will not longer allow you to save an image if you right click on it. I suspect image theft and reproduction is the rationale for this.

Comment by Richard S. Simon on September 16, 2012 at 2:48pm: One of the Dailyhits buyers did complain about a "cheap copy" of a Custer photograph on the feedback page.

They look like stolen scans to me and I doubt if these will fool anyone.

Comment by Mike Shepherd on September 16, 2012 at 3:36pm: The buyers of the items that we are concerned about do not seem to be selling anything autograph related on eBay. They do not appear to be autograph dealers. I can't figure it out. Why would anyone want to purchase these items?

Comment by DB on September 16, 2012 at 4:01pm: @Mike, yet anyways.

Comment by Mike Shepherd on September 16, 2012 at 4:06pm: You may be right DB but I just don’t understand how a guy goes from selling hunting equipment to fake autographs. Something really strange is transpiring here.

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