eBay wins victory in US Courts
After losing in judgement in a French Court, eBay has won an important victory for their business model in a US Court.
EBay scored an important victory in an American court on Monday on how much vetting it is required to do of its auction listings, but the decision was in contrast to recent European court rulings.
In a decision in a four-year-old trademark lawsuit against eBay brought by the jeweler Tiffany & Company, Judge Richard J. Sullivan of the Federal District Court in Manhattan ruled that the online retailer does not have a legal responsibility to prevent its users from selling counterfeit items on its online marketplace.
The verdict reaffirms that Internet companies do not have to actively filter their sites for trademarked material. Rather, they can rely on intellectual property holders to monitor their sites, as long as they promptly remove material when rights holders complain.
