I have written to Samsung to see what they say. I am not sure how I could prove that I am the legitimate owner, other than printing out ebay invoices. And even then there is a trail of ownership, why would Samsung bother to verify each step?
So I was thinking a manufacturer's warranty, 1, 2, 3 even 6 years on cars, must mean something. The warranty should be attached to the item, not to the current owner. When you present an item to the manufacturer for warranty repairs they should not need to check who you are, only that the item is still within its warranty period.