So I put my Oakley Time tank on ebay to sell and my auction gets canceled because they say it’s a trademark infringement. Supposedly Cartier has a trademark on the word “Tank” when it comes to watches. So how can this be, wouldn’t Oakley get sued by Cartier and not be able to name it the Time Tank??

well i know the name supposedly became time tank instead of just tank because of the cartier name. maybe make it one word on ebay?

or just keep it cuz its the coolest watch (imho)

is that why is called timetank without a space?

On the website and the paperwork that comes with the watch, its two words

i just lokoked on the website it is 2 words there also. not sure how they have not been sued yet.

I imagine that it would only be an infringement if this was a case of 'passing off' where one product is deliberately playing on the similarities to another product in a bid to mislead the consumer.

As for Cartier TM'ing the word 'Tank' in relation to watches. I find that highly dubious.

I'm sorry but I can't find any sympathy, WHY WOULD YOU SELL YOUR TIME TANK !?!?!?!?

Just kidding, it sucks that they give you so much hassle. But man, why would you get it in the first place ?

FYI: I own the term "wrist"...so watch out.

Rick I beat you, cuz I own the word ''Time''.

Son of a...

This is what the email said that ebay sent me.


300031804733 - Oakley Time Tank Black/Titanium Watch

Unfortunately, eBay removed your listing. All fees related to this listing have been credited to your account. We also notified members who placed bids on this item that the listing has been canceled.

The rights owner, Cartier, notified eBay that this listing violates intellectual property rights. When eBay receives a report of
this type of violation, we remove the listing to comply with the law.

The rights owner reported the following information:

Please be informed that your auction is being removed from eBay because of a trademark infringement of the word TANK. TANK is a registered trademark of Cartier in respect of jewellery and watches. Any use of the word TANK not in relation to Cartier watches constitutes a trademark infringement. If you remove the word TANK from the description, you can re-list the item again as a fresh listing. Please feel free to visit Cartierâ¿¿s About Me page on eBay:

odd...the word "Oakley Time Tank" is a registered Oakley trademark.

I seriously cannot believe that one company can trademark an entire word in regards to a general base of products. A certain design, sure. Naming a watch "Tank", sure. But this watch is named "Time Tank." I don't see how this would be right.

~Yukio


And how is it that there are other eBay listings not getting tagged for it?

~Dawn

& yet there's probably a thousand items of fake Cartier stuff that breeze through each day. They're just pissed that Oakley has a serious high-end contender in the luxury watch market

I think its just ebay being super strict. They are probably just doing their best to protect everyone.

yeah, well the idiots at f'in Ebay just pulled off 2 more auctions on Time Tanks, and I was bidding on 1...They are getting too far off on this..

It's not likely the Oakley legal department will get involved, they probably don't support Time Tanks being sold on eBay (or would they?)

I would hope they wouldn't!!

One tread => one seller + one interested in buying = classifieds?

Back to toppic: it's odd indeed to see those auctions being pulled off.

Rick, nice play with words, wrist...watch out...

Ed , you are really too much of a thinker

I'd email them back and send them a link to oakley.com so they can see it's an authentic item and tell them to have Cartier take it up with Oakley and not out on you. Even contact the Oakley trademark infirgement team and let them know someone is going after their authentic items. I had an auction pulled once for copyright infringement and went back a them in this fashion and had it relisted because they were wrong.

Tank is indead TM by Cartier, that is why the name changed To Time Tank.