Sell replica Tiffany's jewelry online, but don't pretend it's real. That's the wisdom handed out by the court in the Tiffany v. eBay lawsuit.
Although the Tiffany's lawsuit was not a personal injury lawsuit, New York personal injury attorneys might find the ruling on this case of great interest, given that the judge did allow Tiffany's to pursue their fraud claim.
The case was originally a trademark infringement case, whereby Tiffany's argued that eBay had violated the Tiffany's trademark by allowing online sellers to sell fake Tiffany's items. But the trademark argument didn't fly for the famed New York based jeweler. The judge in the case ruled that eBay was not responsible to monitor their site to prevent the sale of counterfeit Tiffany's jewelry. This was in direct conflict to a French court ruling last month, where eBay had to pay $61 million dollars to Louis Vuitton for allowing the sale of Louis Vuitton knockoffs on the online auction site.
The lawsuit originally claimed direct and contributory trademark infringement due to the fact that the online auction site allowed "hundreds of thousands" of fake Tiffany's items to be sold. The complaint also claimed unfair competition and false advertising. Judge Robert Sack allowed the false advertising claim, which essentially rested on the fact that eBay knew about the widespread fake Tiffany's items and failed to act accordingly to investigate or to prevent illegal sales.
As such, the Judge ordered eBay to remove all listings challenged by Tiffany's on the basis that they may be counterfeit. The Judge additionally ordered eBay to take affirmative steps to identify and remove all illegitimate Tiffany goods.
With regards to the false advertising charges, the Judge stated that eBay misled and confused consumers through the use of words that it chose.
Being the fashion-conscious city that it is, New York injury lawyers are no strangers to the false allure of designer knockoffs. Indeed, Canal Street is lined with shops purporting to sell Gucci, Prada and even Tiffany's. But in looking at the current case, the question for New York injury lawyers remains to be this: Was their client falsely and purposefully misled into believing that they were buying a real designer product?
The false advertising claim in the Tiffany's case has not been settled. While the other claims have been dismissed, the false advertising claim has been remanded and will be reviewed again by a federal judge.
Related Resources
- Consumer Protection (FindLaw)
- False Advertising (LawBrain)
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Find New York Injury Lawyers (FindLaw)
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