Tiffany sues eBay over 'fakes'

LUXURY goods group Tiffany is suing eBay, claiming the online auctioneer is aiding violations of its trademark by allowing counterfeit items to be sold on its website.

The company said it had examined jewellery sold as 'Tiffany' products on eBay and found that almost three quarters of it was counterfeit.

James Swire, the lawyer representing Tiffany, said eBay was making money from the sales of counterfeit jewellery and therefore had a responsibility.

'The public is being defrauded by it and Tiffany is being damaged by it, the question is who should bear the burden of policing it. We have been in correspondence with eBay for some period of time. A year ago, they declined to police their auction sites for counterfeit Tiffany merchandise and said we should use the programs they have to police the site,' he said.

Swire said his attempts to settle this matter 'on a business-like basis without having to go to court' were unanswered. eBay has 30 days to respond to the complaint.

Tiffany‘s lawsuit demands that eBay be stopped from listing any 'Tiffany' merchandise that is not genuine and for the online auctioneer to account for profits made on the sale of counterfeit Tiffany merchandise or else pay up to $1m for each type of fake product sold via its website.

Tiffany said it had had two employees working full time to police the site and had forced the shutdown of about 19,000 auction sites on eBay.

Hani Durzy, a spokesman for eBay, said the company had not seen the legal complaint and could not comment directly on it. However, he added, the company would give Tiffany‘s concerns immediate attention. The website has a program in place to help companies stop fake goods being sold on the website, he said, adding:

'We take these concerns very seriously, which is why we have worked closely with Tiffany and thousands of other rights owners for many years to help them address these types of issues.'