Sidekicking Charity Solicitation Rules: Kling Law Firm gets Evanwashere.com Stolen Sidekick Alleged

Added: (Thu Jun 29 2006)

Pressbox (Press Release) - Sidekicking Charity Solicitation Rules:

Kling Law Firm gets Evanwashere.com Stolen Sidekick Alleged "Charity" Auction Banned

The Kling Law Firm announced today that it was successful in getting the Evanwashere.com alleged "charity" auction banned on Ebay.com today.

The Ebay Auction by Evanwashere.com centered around a Tmobile device called a Sidekick that Evanwashere.com's owner Evan Guttman was seeking to sell on Ebay following its recovery from an alleged 16 year old earlier this month.

The Ebay auction posted pictures of New York Times and other newspaper article(s) about the story and telling buyers they are buying a "infamous" product with its seller, Evanwashere.com, profiting on 2/3 of the financial proceeds from the sale.

However, what Evanwashere.com did not tell buyers was the name of the alleged charity that Evanwashere.com was soliciting on behalf of with the sale.

Solicitations on behalf of charities must meet strict state law requirements and for Ebay.com it is no different. Moreover, in the State of New York, where Guttman lives and was conducting the sale, issues concerning solicitations on behalf of charity are handled by the State Attorney General's Office.

The Evanwashere.com had solicited buyers to bid on the Sidekick never disclosing the alleged charity, its name, its address, or its 501(c)(3) status.

In fact, Evanwashere admitted it had not even chosen any charity on the sale's start date of June 26 yet still solicited buyers. "We will be donating 1/3 of this auction total sale price to a charity for helping children of single parents. As of right now we haven't picked one, but this is 100% happening. "

Gutmnan's auction failed to:

1, identify a recognized tax-deductible charitable organizations (for example, 501(c)(3) status or equivalent with the IRS) in his auction.
2. receive advance written consent for the solicitation from the benefiting nonprofit.
3. include a scanned copy of the consent in his listing.

The Kling Law Firm promptly contacted Ebay internally on the 27th. Within approximately 24 hours, the Evanwashere alleged charity auction was removed from listings on Ebay.



About the Kling Law Firm

The Kling Law Firm is a leading Santa Monica-based boutique entertainment and Internet law firm. As one of the earliest firms on the West Coast to have an Internet presence, the firm has since successfully represented some of Hollywood's leading rights owners against major studios and content providers on copyright, contract, and business matters, and was widely covered for its successful recovery on behalf of a photographer against Andrew Dice Clay and the Venetian Hotel.