You’ve probably already heard about the Nanda Clocky alarm; it’s the alarm that has wheels so that it can race around your bedroom when it goes off in the morning, forcing you to get up and be more alert instead of just hitting snooze. I’ve followed the product since the creator, Guari Nanda, acquired a lot of press when she first showed off her idea as an MIT grad student. But while it seems that the product has found success, it also appears that the company has become a bit restrictive towards users who attempt to resell the product on eBay. Tech Dirt has the equally infuriating/hilarious tale of a family member who tried to sell their Clocky on eBay, only to be struck down by a trademark violation notice.
It sounds as if the user was trying to sell the Clocky as a new product, and perhaps Nanda was mistaken and thought he was trying to become some sort of unauthorized reseller. Ebay’s process for clearing up these misunderstandings isn’t easy: You have to get the “violated” company to approve your specific product listing. This user did that, but somehow still ended up getting another violation notice the next day.
I agree with Tech Dirt when they say that this sort of faulty trademark protection could conceivably harm the market for second-hand products. Ebay needs to find a way to handle faulty complaints–perhaps by punishing companies that make excessive incorrect violation requests? Until this is resolved, the user should just go ahead and sell it on Craigslist already.
The Nanda Alarm Clock eBay Fail
You’ve probably already heard about the Nanda Clocky alarm; it’s the alarm that has wheels so that it can race around your bedroom when it goes off in the morning, forcing you to get up and be more alert instead of just hitting snooze. I’ve followed the product since the creator, Guari Nanda, acquired a lot of press when she first showed off her idea as an MIT grad student. But while it seems that the product has found success, it also appears that the company has become a bit restrictive towards users who attempt to resell the product on eBay. Tech Dirt has the equally infuriating/hilarious tale of a family member who tried to sell their Clocky on eBay, only to be struck down by a trademark violation notice.
It sounds as if the user was trying to sell the Clocky as a new product, and perhaps Nanda was mistaken and thought he was trying to become some sort of unauthorized reseller. Ebay’s process for clearing up these misunderstandings isn’t easy: You have to get the “violated” company to approve your specific product listing. This user did that, but somehow still ended up getting another violation notice the next day.
I agree with Tech Dirt when they say that this sort of faulty trademark protection could conceivably harm the market for second-hand products. Ebay needs to find a way to handle faulty complaints–perhaps by punishing companies that make excessive incorrect violation requests? Until this is resolved, the user should just go ahead and sell it on Craigslist already.