I can't believe the eBay police haven't shut this beaotch down yet; what happened, egg nog hangover???

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

Happy New Year ...............................

Well, the Rick folks have been out on holiday break. But they should be back by now, so I predict this bass won't be around for long...

What's weird is that one actually has a pretty nice looking finish. They should make their own designs though, instead of copying those of someone else.

Well, I do not support counterfeit in any ways, but not sure if the 4001 design developed in 60's are still patented or protected otherwise? At least it is not sold as a real RIC, so probably you can not take it off of ebay.... Greco is a well-known instrument company out of Japan. And how many Les Paul copies from companies other than Gibson on market today????

I have seen many recent listings on eBay that are Greco named knock offs of Rics. I have discussed the issue with eBay and several eBay members. There is some interest by members of a class action suit against eBay for pulling the listings.

Rickenbacker body designs and configurations do have legal protection and this includes the 4001 design. Even if the guitar isn't advertised as a "real RIC," this doesn't change the fact that it is still a "real" legal matter that the company takes seriously.

Gibson did not protect their designs with trademarks, neither did Fender. That why there are so many copies of their guitars legally for sale. Realizing how many sales they have lost to companies that have copied their guitars, it seems Gibson and Fender are trying to get their designs trademarked. But with all the copying that has already been allowed to go on, at this point it is most likely too late for Gibson and Fender to do anything about it.
If Gibson and Fender did trademark their designs before their guitars were available for sale, everyone would be used to that scenario and some people wouldn't be griping about RIC protecting their trademarks, which they can and should do.

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Throw that piece of firewood where it belongs and get yourself a Rickenbacker!

Thanks for clarifying this for me. I was in the dark about why Ric had footing for such suits when Fender and Gibson did not. A trademark makes sense. A copyright only lasts twenty years.

The listing was allowed to run to completion, a full 7 days, by eBay. The item bid to $811 and some change. eBay has in recent weeks pulled several Rickenbacker bass & guitar knock offs, mostly Greco brand. With eBay's track record of usually pulling these within the first 24 hours I'm surprised to see this one run the duration of the listing. As I stated before I have spoken with some folks at eBay concerning their policies and I have also spoken with several of the members that have had their listings pulled. Momentum is gaining for a class action against eBay in this matter. eBay claims they do not allow listings of copies, replicas, etc. but they once again have proven that there are exceptions. Equal treatment comes at a price.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

It's simply not feasible to catch every single item given the huge number of eBay auctions. However, I'll guess that the number of improper auctions that are properly pulled is up in the high 90% range.

The problem from your point of view is that you can't see how many are really deleted, only the small number of exceptions.

The auction you've mentioned did make it through to the end but I note (on a screen you cannot see) that it was in fact marked for deletion. It will go away at some point. While it hasn't likely stopped the sale this time, it does flag the seller's account such that sanctions, including suspension, can be applied.

The Tiffany suit against eBay continues; the outcome of this will determine what happens to these kind of auctions in the future.