The Battle Between eBay and Tiffany Rages On
The long running battle between Tiffany’s and eBay took a new turn recently. A ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld eBay’s victory against Tiffany’s claim of trademark infringement, but sent back for reconsideration Tiffany’s claim of false advertising by eBay. The case relates to eBay’s use of the Tiffany name in its ads, which Tiffany claims are used mostly in ads for counterfeit products. The ruling, assuming the U.S. Supreme Court does not disturb it, will make it harder for companies wanting to use trademark as a way to limit the sale of pirated goods with 3rd parties using the trademarked name in advertising.
An AP excerpt goes into further detail:
The three-judge panel said in its written ruling that it had difficulty with the lower court’s reliance in its ruling on eBay’s assertions that it did not know which listings offered counterfeit Tiffany goods. The 2nd Circuit noted that eBay advertised the goods sold through its site as Tiffany merchandise. “The law requires us to hold eBay accountable for the words that it chose insofar as they misled or confused consumers,” the appellate panel wrote. The company would not necessarily need to stop advertising goods such as Tiffany products if it knows some of them are counterfeit, the appeals court said. “A disclaimer might suffice,” it said. “But the law prohibits an advertisement that implies that all of the goods offered on a defendant’s Web site are genuine when, in fact, as here, a sizable proportion of them are not.”
Sunday, April 25th, 2010



