Intellectual Property Law

ABA Journal Reports on Tiffany v. eBay Decision

By Michael Atkins

This month’s ABA Journal has an article on the Second Circuit’s Tiffany v. eBay decision limiting the auction site’s liability for its users’ trademark infringement.

The decision has different implications depending on who you ask.

Says Tiffany’s lawyer: “The ruling makes it almost impossible to protect marks online — makes it an undertaking which is almost always after the fact.”

Says eBay’s lawyer: “The decision didn’t upset the traditional view as to the relative allocations of burdens of ferreting out trademark infringements. It didn’t create a new a priori rule for online marketplaces.”

Says Eric Goldman: “Courts may expect service providers to provide the industrial-strength level of protection that eBay provides, but small startups can’t do that. I am concerned this case would send the wrong signal to small startups: Set up industrial-strength protections or you’ll be sued out of existence.”

Full post as published by Seattle Trademark Lawyer on July 28, 2010 (boomark / email).