Etsy states they "Deactived" a Listing but nothing is showing in my "Inactive" listing

[deannadavoli]

Hello
I received an email on September 25th, 2022, stating that "We're getting in touch to let you know that we've removed one or more of your listings in accordance with our Intellectual Property Policy and Prohibited Items Policy."

However, when I view my inactive listings, I do not see any listings that Etsy deactivated. I only see listings that I have deactivated in the past. I contacted Etsy a few days ago, and I received the reply below. I opened up a new ticket, since they clearly didn't read my initial one as I was not asking for them to re-list my item, I was informing them that nothing is showing up in my Inactive section. They have not replied to my 2nd follow up.

[This content has been removed by Moderation. We ask that you please review Section 1, Item 2 of our Community Policies prior to posting.]

Has this happened to anyone else?  Was this possibly a glitch?  I cannot correct a listing if I don't even know what listing was deactivated 

Thank you for your help!

[CraftyCornishMaids]

could it be one of the Alice in Wonderland

as that's trademarked by Disney

[ReginaldSpleen]

Looks like the pictures are their own take on the book, not the Disney version. 

They're good too!

[deannadavoli]

Thank you for your reply.  However, none of my Wonderland listings are inactive. They are still showing up active.  So I am still not sure what they are referring to.  My drawings are completely original interpretations of the characters from the book (which is in public domain), not the Disney versions....but are the words "alice in wonderland" now trademarked by Disney?

[CraftyCornishMaids]

@deannadavoli 

yes, the words

Alice in Wonderland

are trademarked by Disney, you can't use it in headings, tags, descriptions, or artwork

[nineteen27]

my entire post was incorrect... i apologize!

[CraftyCornishMaids]

@nineteen27 

Alice in Wonderland is Trademarked by Disney

UK00905618251

Status:Registered

Mark text:
ALICE IN WONDERLAND

Owner(s) name

Disney Enterprises, Inc. 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California 91521, United States of America Country of Incorporation United States of America Incorporation state Delaware

... I haven't looked at Tess, but I would think, as it is registered by Disney in the UK and EU, it's also registered in the USA

.... I believe Lewis Caroll was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,
but Disney made the film, and definitely, trademarked the words "Alice in Wonderland"

[ReginaldSpleen]

@nineteen27 I think @CraftyCornishMaids is right.

"Alice in Wonderland" belongs to Disney, the original book was "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland".

[nineteen27]

and i should know that because i love that book... lol

@ReginaldSpleen 

@CraftyCornishMaids   sorry crafty... you are correct!

[ReginaldSpleen]

I'd just do a bulk "find&change" to change all "Alice in Wonderland" to "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". 

It sounds cooler. (But is probably too long as a title for a section).

None of this is relevant for the OP's problem. But I've learnt something, so not a wasted day.

[nineteen27]

@ReginaldSpleen 

that is a great idea!

me too about the learning

[PrairieCrocusStudio]

..."we've removed one or more of your listings"...

Probably means it was deleted, not just deactivated. 

[deannadavoli]

Thank you for your feedback.  Do you know if there is a place to see where an item would be "deleted"?

[Amaradorn]

I'm not aware that Etsy delete listings completely, they are usually just deactivated (of course this may change in the future - who knows).

There were a load of erroneous deactivations a couple of weeks ago regarding Netflix. As far as I know most of those were miraculously reactivated again without explanation. It could be that the same thing happened to you since some time has passed since the initial notification.

[EccentricHandbags]

I was caught in the erroneous netflix deactivations and this is what happened to me.  There wasn't a deactivated listing showing up at first.  The emails were first.  Give it a little while and it will likely show up or since it has been a while they may have caught it and reactivated it already.  That whole thing was glitchy.  Does the email have contact information of the accuser?  Mine didn't and when I asked for it magically my listing was reactivated as though nothing happened.  And then a bot sent me another threatening letter about the whole thing.  I responded to the email and Etsy then told me the listing had been reactivated.  They really look like they don't know what they're doing and relying in bots way too much. 

[mysticalmoonartgifts]

Thank you for your reply.

It has been a few weeks since I received the email which was on September 25th. I periodically checked my inactive listings since then and never found anything that Etsy deactivated.  The email I received is from: noreply@etsy.com     No where in the email does it state who the accuser was either.  

[EccentricHandbags]

They are supposed to supply that information.  Its part of identifying who actually filed it.  Just the name Netflix is not enough.  You need to contact Etsy.

[VibeEnvy]

You have snow white, malificent, sleeping beauty, Alice in wonderland, mad hatter, etc etc etc. While some things may be related to original books from before Disney, you are definitely targeting the Disney audience and characters so it seems very possible you crossed the lines somewhere and risk getting caught up for infringement. I would say that's the risk of targeting their audience through any copyright or trademark loopholes.

[mysticalmoonartgifts]

thank you for your reply.  I didn't realize that the words "alice in wonderland" or "mad hatter", etc were trademarked by Disney, especially since they were not even the original authors of these fairytales. That being said I will go ahead and change my listing titles and tags to reflect the books' title, like "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" as @ReginaldSpleen as suggested.  Does that mean that even the character's names "dormouse", "march hare", "queen of hearts" etc is also trademarked???  That seems like total BS in my opinion since again, Disney was never the creator of these characters or original story  

This still doesn't explain why the deactivated listing by Etsy is not showing up in my inactive section. 

[ReginaldSpleen]

You can look up what is protected. Use the link to the Alice in Wonderland given above. I think the characters from the book must be safe, as long as you don't draw them using inspiration from the film. Your pictures are very different.

As for the other stuff search the copyright databases.

[EccentricHandbags]

@mysticalmoonartgifts It is best to do your own research about trademark and copyright.  A lot of what gets repeated on these threads isn't correct.  And some things having to do with infringement are rather complex.  Its also some interesting reading.  Start with does Disney own......? and fill in the blank.  

[CraftyCornishMaids]

@mysticalmoonartgifts 

Disney purchased the rights from Macmillan company - Caroll's publisher, to film the carton Alice in Wonderland

and they have paid, and paid, for the trademark

mad hatter is trademarked by disney for a few classes

I couldn't find "march hare" in the UK, apart from beer,  but it might be registered in the USA

you need to so your own research, in the country you sell from, and the counties you sell to

[FabulousPrintStudio]

Etsy deletes listings arbitrarily, and sends it to us to read their policies, citing their policies, and I wonder where I went wrong, there is no article I violated, and they have a question and answer like this.
"I believe my listing was removed in error. Can I appeal this decision?

No, there is no appeals process for your listing at this time. We use a variety of factors to determine whether items comply with our policies, and we take this work very seriously."

It's up to them. And they have an even funnier policy. No food sales. Many people are selling it. Many people say "can these types of products be sold on Etsy? Then I'll sell it." Can't Etsy, which strictly adheres to its policies, prevent this event while listing from the very beginning? Of course it's very simple. You set banned words while writing the product title. Anyway, these arbitrary practices bothered me a lot. My old motivation is gone. Etsy deleted a few of my patterns this week. Unjustly. You have no right of appeal. You can appeal even in court. You can't go to Etsy.

[PlatypusDream]

@FabulousPrintStudio 

More reading for you:

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000336547-Working-with-Production-Partners-on-Etsy?segmen...

https://www.etsy.com/ca/legal/handmade

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360024112614-What-Can-I-Sell-on-Etsy-?segment=selling

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