Court Victory for eBay

New York City In a significant ruling for online sites, as well as for retailers of private-label and luxury-branded products, a federal court said Monday that companies such as Tiffany & Co. are responsible for policing their proprietary items online.

Tiffany had sued eBay over counterfeit jewelry that was sold on eBay’s Web site. The Associated Press reported that U.S. District Judge Richard J. Sullivan ruled “eBay can't be held liable for trademark infringement based solely on their generalized knowledge that trademark infringement might be occurring on their Web sites.”

The Tiffany lawsuit was filed in 2004. Ironically, eBay is appealing another counterfeiting case that it recently lost.

Last month, eBay was ordered by a French court to pay more than $61 million in restitution to Louis Vuitton because fake merchandise had been sold via the eBay auction.