Silicon.com: Tiffany sues eBay
Just when the market thought that eBay was being sued every which way, Tiffany & Co. proved it wrong, inventing a novel claim: that eBay is at fault for the fact that much Tiffany product sold by users of the auction service is actually fake. The lawyer representing the New York luxury goods firm made the connection in this way: "Since they are making the money from it, the public is being defrauded by it and Tiffany is being damaged by it, the question is who should bear the burden of policing it."
eBay's likely defense will be that, if Tiffany has standing at all, it's real argument is with the sellers and manufacturers of fake Tiffany products.
The suit constitutes an interesting example of an increasing phenomenon, where centralized market services now available through the Internet are becoming proxies for legal conflicts. eBay, in effect, acts as a reverse class action mechanism, allowing a company to sue many individuals, albeit very indirectly.
