Tiffany is suing eBay, saying the online auctioneer doesn’t do enough to stop counterfeits
Tiffany & Company is suing eBay. Lawyers for the luxury jeweler say the online auctioneer has done nothing to stop the sale of counterfeit Tiffany items on its Web site. NPR’s Laura Sydell reports.
LAURA SYDELL reporting:
A study this year by Tiffany of jewelry sold on eBay advertised with its trademark name found that tiffany bracelets 75 percent was fake. ‘For a jeweler with a reputation for luxury, these fakes have the potential to do damage,’ says Tiffany attorney Jim Swire.
Mr. JIM SWIRE (Tiffany Attorney): Much of this merchandise is actually of an inferior nature, so it’s going to damage Tiffany’s reputation. It’s going to dilute what Tiffany stands for as well as costing Tiffany financially.
SYDELL: Swire says eBay should take responsibility for what is being sold on its site, especially since the auctioneer makes money from it through sale fees. According to Swire, Tiffany wants eBay to pay up to $1 million for each type of fake Tiffany merchandise sold on the Web site. Alan Baden, an attorney in Silicon Valley, says there is a precedent for making the auctioneer responsible for the fakes. It’s a case from back in the days of bricks-and-mortar sales.
Mr. ALAN BADEN (Attorney): For example, the Hard Rock Cafe going against at least one flea market operator, alleging that they turned, you know, a blind eye to the sale of counterfeit goods.
SYDELL: Hard Rock won that case. However, generally, manufacturers are responsible for doing the tiffany cufflinks themselves and alerting authorities to the fakes. In the case of eBay, Baden notes the auctioneer already helps companies.
Mr. BADEN: Unlike the typical flea market owner, who is willfully blind to what’s going on, eBay has got a procedure and a process in place and is willing, when it’s presented with evidence of infringing activity, to shut it down.
SYDELL: That procedure is a program called VeRO. EBay won’t yet comment on the specifics of the Tiffany suit but says that the jeweler has, in fact, taken advantage of that program. A Tiffany spokesperson says it used VeRO to shut down 19,000 sites selling fraudulent Tiffany goods. Attorney Baden says if Tiffany does tiffany money clips this case against eBay, it’s likely to set off a string of similar lawsuits since many manufacturers can find fakes of their goods being sold on eBay.
Laura Sydell, NPR News, San Francisco.
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