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More on eBay and Fakes

By Intellectual Property Law, Esq.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that a French court had held eBay responsible for fakes sold on the site. They're doing much better here in the U.S. From yesterday's New York Times:

"In a long-awaited decision in a four-year-old trademark lawsuit against eBay brought by the jeweler Tiffany & Company, Judge Richard J. Sullivan of the Federal District Court in Manhattan ruled that the online retailer does not have a legal responsibility to prevent its users from selling counterfeit items on its online marketplace. The verdict reaffirms that Internet companies do not have to actively filter their sites for trademarked material. Rather, they can rely on intellectual property holders to monitor their sites, as long as they promptly remove material when rights holders complain."

The decision is here. Eric Goldman has a good summary. Rebecca Tushnet says "it?s certainly a major victory for eBay, and by extension perhaps numerous other internet services."

Full post as published by The Art Law Blog on July 16, 2008 (boomark / email).