eBay wins counterfeits ruling

eBay today won an important court victory in the United States.

A judge in New York ruled that companies such as jeweller Tiffany & Co. were responsible for policing their trademarks online, not auction platforms like eBay.

Tiffany had sued eBay over the sale of counterfeit jewellery on eBay’s sites.

Judge Richard Sullivan ruled that eBay cannot be held liable for trademark infringement “based solely on their generalised knowledge that trademark infringement might be occurring on their Web sites”.