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District Court Holds That eBay is Not Liable for the Sale of Counterfeit Tiffany Jewelry on its Auction Website
July 17, 2008 Full PDF
In an important decision applying trademark law to auction websites, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York recently ruled in Tiffany (NJ) Inc. v. eBay, Inc., No. 04 Civ. 4607 (RJS) (S.D.N.Y. July 14, 2008), that eBay is not liable for trademark infringement based solely on its generalized knowledge that sellers might be hawking counterfeit Tiffany goods on its website. The district court also held that eBay's use of Tiffany's trademark on its advertising, on its homepage, and in sponsored links purchased through online search engines, is a protected, nominative fair use of the mark.