Tiffany and eBay lawsuit continues

The ongoing lawsuit between Tiffany and Co. and eBay, opened again on Tuesday. The jewellery company has sued eBay for selling counterfeit Tiffany jewellery on its web site. According to a Reuters’ report, Tiffany’s lawyer mentioned that eBay turned a "blind eye" to the acquisition.

The trial is slated to proceed till Novermber 21. It is being held before the U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan in Manhattan, and without a jury. This case seems of acute importance for the industry, as it could define a legal precedent on who is responsible for policing the Web for counterfeit products.

The eBay lawyer defended that the Web site abided by all obligations to prevent the sale of counterfeit goods, and it was up to Tiffany and Co. to police its trademarks. eBay apparently spends more than $10 million a year to "cleanse its site of counterfeit merchandise, and has implemented a verified rights owners (VeRO) programme to help companies prevent fake goods from being sold on its site. In court papers, Tiffany has argued that if it were required to police auctions it would be less effective and more expensive than automatic screening by eBay, reported Reuters.