All that glitters at eBay is not Tiffany, the famous jeweler contends
Tiffany & Co., with one of the most recognized brands in jewelry, has sued eBay Inc., charging that it has found widespread counterfeiting of its brand on eBay.com and has had to block tens of thousands of eBay’s auctions for offering merchandise falsely branded with the Tiffany name. eBay declines comment, noting it has yet to review the suit, but adds that it works with Tiffany and other brands to delete problem listings.
The lawsuit, filed June 18 in U.S. District Court in New York, charges eBay with “direct and contributory trademark counterfeiting and infringement,” Tiffany said in a statement. It added that a study commissioned by Tiffany of “Tiffany” jewelry sold through eBay earlier this year found that 73% of the items were counterfeit.
“Thousands of consumers have bought counterfeit ‘Tiffany’ jewelry through eBay believing that their purchases were genuine, but they were deceived, and Tiffany’s reputation has been damaged in the process,” Tiffany says. “Tiffany believes that eBay should bear responsibility for the sale of counterfeit merchandise on its site, since it openly promotes “Tiffany” counterfeits by using the Tiffany name as a sponsored link, provides a forum for such sales and profits handsomely from the sale of bogus merchandise and packaging,” Tiffany says.
Tiffany participates in eBay’s Verified Rights Owner program which eBay developed in 1999 as a way to better control the sale of counterfeit goods, says an eBay spokesman, adding that he’s unable to comment on when or how Tiffany has used the program. Tiffany did not comment on the program.
The rights program has led to the “expeditious removal of listings reported to eBay by over 5,000 intellectual property rights owners,” the eBay spokesman says.
EBay also notes on its web site that it conducts voluntary daily monitoring and removal of listings that violate its policies designed to prevent the listing of infringing items. EBay admits, however, that is not an expert in intellectual property rights, and says so in a note to rights owners in an explanation of the rights program on eBay.com. “Because eBay is not an expert in your intellectual property rights, and cannot verify that sellers have the right to sell the millions of items they post on eBay each day,” it says, “we need your help in identifying listings which do not appear on their face to infringe your rights.”
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