back to article eBay trumps Tiffany in trade mark ruling

eBay does not infringe jewellery shop Tiffany's trade marks when counterfeits are sold by sellers at the online auction site. Tiffany has lost its appeal in the US against the same decision as made by a lower court. Tiffany claimed that by allowing people to sell fakes, eBay infringed its trade marks. The 2nd US Circuit Court …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. richard 69
    Flame

    listen

    i hate ebay as much as the rest but can they really be accountable for every single piece of tat on there?

    is it really their fault if someone sneaks fake jewellery on there?

    they do try and get rid of the fake stuff......actually they are a bunch of over charging tied-into-paypay fuckers so screw 'em....they should be made to pay...

    1. Elmer Phud

      Oxford Street

      It's a bit like Tiffany trying to sue the council for the 'perfume vendors' that appear by magic on the pavement. The usual 'if it seems too cheap then it's crap' holds both on the street and on ebay - anyone buying from them is a mug - case closed.

  2. Ben Tasker
    Pint

    I agree about the advert

    It's bloody irritating when you google for something, and the first Ad/Organic Link is

    'Buy $YOURQUERY from E-bay!'

    Half the time clicking on that link will take you to an e-bay page showing - Your search returned no results.

    Not as annoying as the search engines which pretend not to be in search results though!

  3. Wize

    How are e-bay supposed to know whats real and whats fake

    Some fakes are obvious, but others need to be examined in person by an expert to determine if its real or not.

    Do we have to post everything to ebay for inspection before making the item live?

  4. Ian Stephenson
    Boffin

    You get what you pay for

    If you purchase a "Brand X" item at less than a tenth of the real price it's a little obvious that it most probably isn't "Brand X".

    Anybody who doesn't realise this really is (as the computing legend goes) too stupid to own a computer.

    1. Ed Gould
      IT Angle

      There is a sucker born every minute

      Of course everyone is correct that it is a buy beware place. EBAY did not write the ads nor can they be held responsible for any ads.

      Having said that, Tiffiny should probably come up with a certificate. Then essentially say to everyone if it does not have the Tiffiny Certificate (that was gotten from Tiffiny) then assume the piece is fake.

      1. MadonnaC

        Fake?

        Wouldn't you think if they can fake Tiffany, then a scrap of paper is going to be easier?

        If you think paper is difficult, I have a lot of £100s going cheap

  5. Graham Marsden
    FAIL

    Who is dumb enough...

    ... to buy Tiffany Jewellery (let alone luxury cars or aeroplanes) from an online tat bazaar and *not* wonder whether they're getting the genuine article or going to get ripped off?

    Whoever they are, I'd like to offer them Nelson's Column which I have for sale...

    1. g e
      Thumb Up

      Cool!

      I place my marker bid of 99p

      ** MSG **

      Is the column in good condition? Would you consider an exchange for Tower Bridge ?

      1. richard 69
        Thumb Up

        hey

        can i swap it for marble arch?

        it's genuine marble, honest. certified by the marble association of putney.

        1. Graham Marsden
          Happy

          Tower Bridge? Marble Arch??

          Yours must be fakes, because I'm selling those next week...!

  6. No, I will not fix your computer
    Thumb Up

    eBay rules (OK)

    Put up an auction saying "Genuine Tiffany Ring" and eBay will leave you alone but put up "Tiffany Ring, believed genuine but not guaranteed" and eBay will usually pull it.

    If you assert any doubt then eBay will pull it.

  7. Paul Nagelkerke
    Unhappy

    Copyright Abuse Rampant

    There is a lot of copyright abuse on eBay.

    A US company that sells "Tower Hobbies" radio control servos will block you if you try to list "Tower" brand servos from Hong Kong. They claim to own the name "Tower" just like "Rolex" as a copyrighted term. It did not matter that tower was a common word and Rolex is a specific name created for the brand as I pointed out. I sold the servos using their part number, and the name was clearly listed on the picture.

    Microsoft tried to copyright the "windows" word and lost, so they can only copyright the two or more word combination "MS Windows".

    $10 Rolex? Buyer Beware on eBay!

  8. Lord Elpuss Silver badge
    Stop

    Be careful

    Tiffany need to be careful here - saying things like "EBay deliberately misled consumers for profit, and unfortunately, the court has justified its actions" when the court has ruled that they did not, is coming perilously close to slander. (or at the very least a malicious falsehood - where the utterer knew or could reasonably have known that the statement they were making was false, and could have an adverse or negative impact on the businesses or reputation of the target).

    They could find themselves on the other side of the courthouse.

  9. Marty
    Stop

    bah... humbug...

    fleabay should just put "Caveat emptor" on the top of every listing on feepay...

    personaly i dont care if i buy a so called fake product, if it is sold to me as a copy and i have paid copy prices....

  10. Philip Cohen
    FAIL

    Talking about "Rolex" ...

    Talking about “Rolex”, take a look at the eBay-touted selling success story, “beckertime” and then note the multitude of habitual, common, never- or rarely-winning bidders that appear on this seller’s 99c-start auctions (but don’t show up as suspicious on the Bid History Details because their own-auctions’ activity is kept well diluted by placing many small no-win bids elsewhere).

    Makes it clear that eBay’s introduction of masked bidding aliases was effectively never intended as anything but the deliberate criminal facilitation of ‘wire fraud’ on buyers the world over—just so eBay could get a better FVF.

    The details at http://www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=6502877

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Philip Cohen: Ebay's masked aliases for bidders

    I disagree with your view on masked bidding, you're entitled to your own view, but you should state that it is your view and not state is as fact.

    A consequence, and I would argue that it is an unintended consequence, might be that it creates the effect of wire fraud, but to suggest that Ebay's intention that this was "deliberate criminal facilitation..." is just plain wrong. Have you stopped for one moment to think about what it is your suggesting?

    There are good reasons and I am sure Ebay's intentions were good when they introduced the masked alias approach for bidders, I for one was grateful, and for reasons I'm not going to disclose.

  12. Rex Alfie Lee
    Thumb Down

    My fave is leather...

    I love the items that are posted as leather when they are vinyl. Perhaps there is some small text annoying me into knowing the truth but it isn't leather & shouldn't be broadcasted as such. I bought a leather phone case which for the money I knew wasn't leather but the seller was upset when I stated on their feedback that they'd lied about the make. They were very upset but I ignored it & stated that I knew it wasn't but you advertised it falsely.

    All false statements should be noted duly on the feedback to stop the sellers selling this stuff as stuff that it isn't.

This topic is closed for new posts.