EBay Faces Law Suit from Tiffany's

EBay Faces Law Suit from Tiffany's

Tiffany and Company, the oldest and the best in vintage jewelry, is prosecuting eBay, the leader in online auction for listing counterfeit jewelry on its website.

Tiffany's bought two hundred pieces of jewelry through eBay in 2004 only to realize that 150 (three out of four) items were fake. An angry Tiffany's has filed a law suit against eBay accusing it of not only facilitating the sale of fake items but also charging huge sums of money as fees from the vendors.

EBay contends that it is not under compulsion to take any steps against complaints unless they are made by a party that holds a copyright; in case a buyer purchasing through eBay ends up with a fake item, eBay has no liability towards him. “We never take possession of the goods sold through eBay, and we don't have any expertise,” said Hani Durzy, a spokesman for eBay. “We're not clothing experts. We're not car experts, and we're not jewelry experts. We're experts at building a marketplace and bringing buyers and sellers together.”

Last year, eBay was in news over the same issue when a customer Jacqui Rogers bought ten pieces of Weiss jewelry on eBay and later discovered that they were phony. Though Rogers was refunded by the vendor but eBay declined taking off the advertisements from its website.

It is believed that eBay will go on trial towards the year end. And it will be in deep trouble if Tiffany's wins the lawsuit. It is expected that eBay will have to face more lawsuits. In addition, it will have to have stricter regulation over what it allows to be sold on its site, and keeping a watch over millions of sellers and items would be a mammoth task.

EBay at present claims that it does whatever is possible, to control swindling and only a fraction of the items sold on its site are counterfeit.