By Suzanna Kerridge, 22 February 2002 12:30
NEWS eBay has been told to stop selling 11 September World Trade Center memorabilia following a letter of complaint from the New York City Council. Michael Cardozo, the city's corporation counsel, told the online auction site to take down the items as their "moral repugnance is obvious". The offending items include pictures of people falling to their death, uncut emergency call tapes and a brass ashtray as well as badges and pins from NY police and fire departments. The letter demanded the items be removed, claiming the emergency service memorabilia violated the trademarks of the city. In the wake of 11 September, eBay imposed a ban on sales of objects related to the World Trade Center for the 10 days immediately after the attack. However, it then relaxed the ban, claiming certain items could be sold providing they were positive commemorative items and that the money was donated to charity. eBay finally lifted the restrictions at the beginning of this year. But Henry Gomez, vice president of corporate communications at the company, said he would remove any item identified by Cardozo as violating either trademark law or company policies. However, Cardozo claims NY city lawyers do not have time to trawl through the website every day. He said a blanket ban should be enforced. The complaint comes only a month after eBay's German offices were raided by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution for illegally selling Nazi memorabilia.
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