There's plenty of other auction services.

That much money for ... um ... yeh, well. Judging by the looks of it, they probably don't want it on E-bay for fear it will only bring a fiver if it's lucky. That would be suitably embarasing.

I seem to recall that some "Right to Buy" council house contracts came with a clause stating that if you were selling it within X years of purchase, you could only sell it back to the council.

I also seem to recall that this went to the courts and a judge ruled that statutory terms of sale overruled the restrictive contract: ie you've bought it, you can sell it to anyone you want.

So it would appear that, in the UK at least, the only legal way to stop someone selling something is not to let them buy it in the first place.

Might we see a return to the phone rental model from days of yore?

IANAL, but contracts cannot alter the law. Assuming the phone is purchased and not leased, once you've bought it, you can do what the hell you like with it, include selling it in the online tat bizarre.

Motorola are probably counting on people not realising this.

I'd like to see this in court.

Over a grand for a phone! What does it do, suck you off while you make a call?

Hmm, lets see now ...

Illegal control of secondary market. Almost certainly unenforceable under Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations.

I could see then **trying** to put the frighteners on people, but I doubt they'd ever be stupid enough to actually do anything beyond writing stupid letters.

Looks crap anyway - and £2k is taking the pish

is there something in the contract that lets you off the hook if it is stolen or do you remain liable forever?

PH - should have had a no onselling contract for those 'documentaries' she made.

Wow, that sounds like a bargain.

If I own it and I cant sell it then its worthless right? And clearly I do own it cos im spending $2k on acquiring it.

Now, theres another reason not to get a Motorola phone. As if the fact that theyre shit wasnt enough.

…this is illegal (First Sale Doctrine).

Don't know about Blighty or the rest of the EU; I suspect similar measures exist, though.

great tactic at the start of a global economic downturn. Now this make Apple look like Samaritan. I seriously hope i meet someone with one of these one day.

Does this sound like an unenforceable form contract to anyone else? If it was business to business, well, that would be another thing; but it seems to me this does somewhat imbalance the rights of the parties in favour of Motorola. What, say, if someone bought the phone and then didn't like it? It seems fair to make good the loss by selling on. Would a court ever enforce a Motorola claim along these lines?

Christ-all-bloody-mighty. Mine cost €50, works fine.

I think you can get a working 1970's BT Trimfone on ebay for the same, which lasts longer. D'ohhhh. More money than sense, some twats.

Oh, so if I can't sell it, I don't own it? Title of Ownership? So, who does? Rental? Operator? Motorola?

Effing 'Merkan laws. Daft as brushes. Hope Osama Bin Liner gets in as prez next week. Whatever.

So, you're renting a handset from the manufacturer. For £1.5k

I wish them ALL the best with that.

in the us, supposedly, once a piece of property has been sold, the seller relenquishes rights to it.

So maybe you are not buying it, just renting with big key money.

Paris cause she gets big key money.

I'd be more worried about actually being able to sell more than half a dozen of these overpriced fashion statements (it states "I'm a tw*t with no fashion sense and more money than brains") in the first place, than them actually being sold on "for a profit" (LOL) anywhere.

I guess this could be some ploy by Motorola to ensure that only the cream of the crop bell ends buy this phone?

Let's face it, you'd be a tit for paying $2000 for a phone in the first place, but doing that AND signing this contract is surely reserved for BMW driving 'executive arseholes'?

First Sale Doctrine covers copyrighted works, and the right to sell your one licensed copy along with the imposed lincenses from the publisher to a third party. Tangible assets outside of copyrighted material (patented items) are covered by different regulations.

It all falls down to Staturoty Rights. If transfer of ownership ("Sale") takes place, then the legal owner has the Statutory Right to sell that item. If it does not, e.g. if a contractual clause states that no right to resell is granted, then you can't sell it. It's up to you to decide whether you wish to purchase the item with this in mind, or if you do not want to be restricted. Your choice is to either buy the phone and be restricted, or not buy the phone. That remains your choice, though.

IANAL, but i'm slightly better informed after reading up on Statutory Rights for the past 5 minutes. As for Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations, after reading it I can't see any indication of restricting sale to a third party as being unfair.

The irony of not being allowed to sell a phone with an open source OS would be beautiful.

Motorola do know that the fashionista are all Apple devotees don't they? Maybe they should target their own core market like ermmmm i dunno.... ermmmm OK - I give up.

I'd be interested to see what would actually happen, since you're breaching the contract. Motorola's only remedy would be recouping their actual losses; I assume from losing a sale. So they'd have to come after you for £2,000, plus they'd probably lock the new buyer out, so he would come after you for £2k too.

So you could be £4,000k down in theory.

Which begs the question, why the hell should I buy anything from such a crummy company in the first place?

This is illegal in the UK. You have a statutory right to sell your own property, and any term in a contract which seeks to diminish your statutory rights is null and void.

I say let yourself get taken to court for breach of contract, then plead "no case" and counter-sue Motorola for vexatious litigation.

It’s about persuading eBay not to allow sale through their tat bazaar. eBay refuse to allow the listing of lots of different, completely legal items. If Motorola can get eBay to pull listings for the Aura, they’ll call it a success. If anyone dares to relist, I’m sure Motorola will view the punishment – the loss of all their eBay and PayPal accounts and being banned indefinitely – as a suitable way of showing their appreciation for buying Motorola in the first place.

If an Aura owner dies (of titness), what happens to the phone? Does the contract require the handset to be placed in the coffin, as a form of grave goods, so that no-one in the world of the living can lay claim to it?

If I had the 2K anything to waste on this and they wanted to pay me 2K to buy it back used...hey, who am I to complain? It they're thinking about paying less than the 2K then I may as well gift it to one o my sprog and let them sell it to anyone they want.

they've simply done a deal with Ebay to keep them off the site which is probably the number one place that they'd be sold.

And in the UK they'll be sold as part of a subsidised contract so does that mean that the phone belongs to you ? Or does it only belong to you when the contract finishes after 18 months ?

Umm I'd like to add to the chorus of people asking what does one get when paying two thousand dollars for a FUCKING CELL PHONE?????????????????????? Not only that but a cell phone that looks like it was designed by a mid nineties industrial design school drop out.

Coat please, cos once again I've seen it all.

...to the first person to accurately predict when Motorola will try and use the DCMA to get a fleabay listing taken down, claiming unauthorised use of a photo of the phone.

Someone made the point already, it'll never come to court in any country and Motorola know it. FleaBay are notorious for taking down first and not asking questions later. They'll get it added to the list of banned items and then it will be a Terms of Use violation to try and sell one and Motorola can safely say "now't to do with us, guv'"

Of course, there are other smaller auction sites, I doubt Motorola will get the same belly-rubbing indulgence from all of them.

...Motorola will have gone bust by then anyway.

What a piece of junk.

Best way to make the phone 'exclusive' is ensure that no-one apart from WAGs would want one. That doesn't stop it looking like shit, to all except the readers of the weekly gossip mags.

Call it 'stupidity tax'.

what does one get when paying two thousand dollars for a FUCKING CELL PHONE??????????????????????

You get Paris for a year, but you also have to feed and clothe her.

Paris: well, because...

will just remove the listing using the VeRo program.

One of my bike part suppliers has just decided that no one except them can sell their products on ebay. They haven't refused to supply anyone or put anything in writing they just claim you are infringing their copyright and intellectual property if you sell their items.

I have no doubt Motorola will do exactly the same.

"If an Aura owner dies (of titness)"

LMAO

"One of my bike part suppliers has just decided that no one except them can sell their products on ebay."Krazy t$$^s they must have more brass than sense

Evil Bill cos he does the same.

who would buy this phone anyway its over priced for starters it dosnt have many advanced features its ugly need i go on.........