Tiffany Loses Infringement Case Against eBay

Tiffany & Company has lost its trademark infringment lawsuit against online auction site eBay. U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan ruled that the venerable jeweler must watch out for fakes on the site itself. The judge accepted eBay’s defense that it provides measures for owners of trademarks to ferret out infringers, and that it can’t be held responsible simply for “generalized knowledge” that sellers offer fakes through its site. Here’s the ruling. Read more here in a CNN story and here in an Agence France Presse story. Last month, the online auction house lost an infringement case to the conglomerate LVMH in a French court. eBay was ordered to pay $63 million and says it will appeal. Another case against eBay, brought by L’Oreal, is pending.