“Just taking orders” doesn’t cut it for eBay in Germany

eBay evidently got rocked by Rolex* in its German litigation this year, and we may never have heard about it if not for a securities filing by the online auctioneer. The claim, of course, was for contributory infringement.

“The court’s decision found that eBay must take reasonable measures to prevent recurrence once it is informed of clearly identified infringement,” eBay said in a quarterly regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“eBay may in certain circumstances be liable upon first notice of infringement,” the filing added.

The Europeans are a lot less the surrender-monkeys we make them out to be when it comes to this stuff — and a lot less the surrender monkeys than our own courts are.

* A LOC client, but I was not at all involved in this European litigation.

Originally posted 2007-07-27 15:57:37. Republished by Blog Post Promoter