Intellectual Property Policy

Reselling genuine goods is legal. The first-sale doctrine is the foundation this entire industry stands on. Using someone else's trademark, photos, or creative work to sell things is not. This policy draws that line for PaperCrane listings.

You may use a brand name to truthfully identify genuine goods: “Lot of 50 Levi's 501s” is fine when the lot is fifty genuine 501s. You may not use brand names or logos to suggest an affiliation, sponsorship, or authorized-dealer status you do not have, stuff unrelated brand names into listings for search reach, or use a brand's logo in your own storefront branding, avatar, or banner. Say what the goods are; do not dress up as the brand.

Photograph your own inventory. Do not lift product photos from brand websites, catalogs, or other sellers' listings. Buyers here are buying the actual second-hand pieces in front of you, and stock photos misrepresent condition anyway. You keep the rights to content you create and grant PaperCrane a license to display it, as described in the Terms of Service. Uploading content you do not have rights to violates both the owner's rights and your agreement with us.

Every counterfeit item is also a trademark infringement. The Counterfeit & Stolen Goods Policy governs those cases, and its penalties apply on top of this policy.

Copyright owners (for photos, text, or designs reproduced without permission) should use our DMCA process, which has specific statutory requirements and a counter-notice path for the seller. Trademark owners and brand-protection agents should file through our Report Infringement page, which lists exactly what a complaint must include: the mark and its registration, the specific listings at issue, and why the use infringes rather than lawfully reselling genuine goods. We review trademark complaints by hand. A complaint that a listing resells genuine goods is not, by itself, infringement, and we will say so when that is our conclusion.

When a complaint is valid we remove the listing or content, and we tell the seller what was removed and why, including the complainant's identifying details as the law requires or permits. A seller who believes a removal was mistaken can respond with evidence (sourcing records, proof of authenticity, proof of ownership of the content) and we reinstate when the evidence supports it. For copyright, reinstatement runs through the formal DMCA counter-notice.

Accounts that repeatedly infringe (multiple upheld complaints, whether copyright or trademark) are terminated. That is our policy, and for copyright it is also a legal condition of the safe-harbor process we operate under.

IP complaints are serious tools, and misusing them has consequences on both sides. Sellers who ignore this policy lose listings and accounts. Complainants who knowingly file false claims (including competitors abusing takedowns) may be barred from the reporting process and can be liable under law for damages caused by their misrepresentation.