U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Tiffany’s eBay Challenge

According to a report by the Dow Jones Newswire, the U.S. Supreme Court has decided, without comment, against a Tiffany & Co. lawsuit that cites eBay Inc. over the sale of counterfeit jewellery on the online auction website. Tiffany alleged eBay is responsible for infringing the brand’s trademarks because it facilitated the sale of counterfeit Tiffany items. Two lower courts sided with eBay, saying the auctioneer couldn't be held liable unless it had specific knowledge that particular items might be counterfeit. Tiffany noted a significant portion of the items found on eBay is counterfeit, alleging that hundreds of thousands of counterfeit silver SKUs have been offered on the site. Tiffany participated in a program with eBay to remove auction listings it deemed suspicious, but the company said the program did not resolve eBay's "massive counterfeiting problem."