After being fined $65.8 million for failing to stop the sale of counterfeit goods, it looks like Ebay have had scored a major legal victory in a four year long law suit with Tiffany & Co. Tiffany & Co claimed that Ebay turned a blind eye to the selling of counterfeit goods on their website.
In his judgement, Judge Richard Sullivan stated that "It is the trademark owner's burden to police its mark and companies like eBay cannot be held liable for trademark infringement based solely on their generalized knowledge that trademark infringement might be occurring on their websites." Furthermore, Judge Richard Sullivan said that Tiffany's claim was denied because they targeted Ebay instead of the individual sellers, as Ebay has taken all steps to take down fraudulent listings as soon as possible.
This is a huge win for consumers, and ultimately says that protecting trademark lies with the rights owner. There was also concerns for snowballing law suits, as this could set a dangerous precedent for Ebay and other online 'auction' sites. However, it is still early days, and it is likely that this decision will be appealed by Tiffany & co.
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