Reuters reports that Tiffany’s gamble has not paid off:
EBay Inc scored a major legal victory on Monday, when a federal judge ruled that Tiffany & Co failed to prove the online auctioneer was responsible for the sale of fake Tiffany jewelry on its website.
“The Court concludes that Tiffany has failed to meet its burden in proving its claims,” wrote U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan in his opinion.
“Given Tiffany’s choice to sue eBay, rather than individual sellers, and this Court’s conclusion that eBay does not continue to supply its services to those whom it knows or has reason to know are infringing Tiffany’s trademarks, Tiffany’s claims against eBay must fail,” wrote the court.
The decision is here.
UPATE: An eBay liability roundup here.
UPDATETER: And a post-affirmation summary, and assessment, here.
[…] Well, the think about CafePress is you don’t hardly have to even try to get them to pull merchandise. They obviously have made a business decision that the long-run cost of backing off from every threat is less than the risk of incurring litigation, probably from a legal-fees point of view rather than a realistic fear of liability. (Especially now!) […]
[…] Tiffany’s is, not surprisingly, appealing the decision dismissing its claims against eBay. […]
[…] So far, no court has agreed. Fine. That’s as far as substantive law. But how about procedural law? […]