[Ashley]

Hi Everybody-

I found this article in National Jeweler Online (one of my daily trade newsletters) and thought everybody on the forum might find this interesting...


Tiffany's trademark lawsuit against eBay opens
November 14, 2007

New York—Tiffany and Co.'s trademark lawsuit against eBay opened on Tuesday with a lawyer for Tiffany and Co. reportedly saying eBay turned a "blind eye" to the sale of counterfeit Tiffany jewelry on its Web site, according to a Reuters report.

An eBay lawyer in turn said the Web site fulfilled its obligations in preventing the sale of counterfeit goods, and it was up to Tiffany and Co. to police its trademarks, the report said.

The trial, which is being held without a jury before U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan in Manhattan, is scheduled to continue through Nov. 21. It is being closely watched as a case that could set a legal precedent on who is responsible for policing the Web for counterfeit products, a monitoring job that would undoubtedly prove costly, according to experts.

"EBay has disclaimed the responsibility for sale of counterfeit items on its site," James Swire, Tiffany's lawyer, said in Tuesday's opening statements, according to Reuters.

"EBay simply turned a blind eye," Swire told the judge. "Because of that, it is liable for contributory infringement."

The auction site's lawyer, Bruce Rich, said eBay spends more than $10 million a year to "cleanse its site of counterfeit merchandise," the report said.

He cited eBay's verified rights owners (VeRO) program, which helps companies prevent fake goods from being sold on its site, as one example.

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.

In a separate lawsuit this past August, Tiffany was awarded $1 million as part of a court settlement that enjoined Starglam and its principal, John Shamir, from producing what the retailer alleged was counterfeit Tiffany merchandise.

[knotty panda]

True, true, true, liable, liable, liable. You can go on e-bay today and find more fake Tiffany items than authentic. The dealers know this, I'm convinced, because when a Tiffany "trademark" is shown to be fraudulent, most dealers ignore the fraud claim, and some get real cagey and revise the description to "Tiffany" in quotes, or Tiffany-like. The same thing is happening with Mikimoto.

With brand name pearls, the only value is in the clasp. The house brand name certifiers can't even identify their own pearls, that's how much alike pearls are. All they are certifying is the clasp.

The pity is, the consumer thinks they are purchasing pearls of value when all they are purchasing is a used clasp. The pearls without the clasp are worthless.

Sad but true.

E-bay officials are amazingly difficult to get a hold of. They don't involve themselves in fraud claims unless brought into the battle kicking and screaming. And even then, they are pretty much worthless in protecting the consumer.

The best thing for the consumer to do is completely familiarize themselves with the product's hallmark. Tiffany and Mikimoto hallmarks are extremely intricate and I've yet to see a hallmark that could not be distinguished from authentic to fraud with a decent picture. Also, hallmarks are placed in various areas on pieces and pointing in various directions.

Of course, familiarity won't protect you from purchasing a product that is not the photo of the product you are receiving, but chances are, if they have the real thing pictured, they will ship the real thing.

There's quite a few Tiffany vendors on e-bay I have issue with. Can you tell?

[Ashley]

I don't really play around on eBay- it gives me a headache...

I just found out another piece of news that saddens me utterly:

H. Stern has died on October 26, 2007.

Aged 85 years old, the famous designer H. Stern has celebrated his country's heritage and wealth of high-quality colored gemstones through utterly genius designs. Although I did not know him personally, he will be missed by many in this industry as an innovative thinker and designer.