RICO Lawsuit against Ebay

[tachyonbb]

R. Rex Parris law firm has filed claims in federal court against Ebay, PayPal, and numerous eBay sellers claiming the defendants knowingly and deliberately sell counterfeit and fake products on eBay.com.

Wonder if this will impact the number of fake cards on eBay.




http://globenewswire.com/news-releas...-Products.html

[Brian Van Horn]

Uh, nothing about shill bidding?

[Exhibitman]

Product manufacturers have tried and failed with suits against eBay in the past. See Tiffany Inc. v. eBay Inc., 600 F.3d 93 (2d Cir. 2010). A French court hit eBay in 2008, but that's not the USA.

Parris's firm lists itself on ads and its web site as a personal injury firm.

Excuse my ignorance of the law Adam.... By personal injury lawyer do you mean frivolous lawsuit pursuer, ambulance chaser, etc? I would like for this case to have merit.

[ALR-bishop]

Or personal injury lawyer ( I am not one), as in somone you go to when you or somone you love is badly injured through the fault of somone else.

But if I thought I had a legitimate RICO case against eBay that might not be the type of attorney I would seek out.

[rdwyer]

I heard the lawsuit was also alleging racketeering.

[nolemmings]

R.I.C.O.=Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations

[Peter_Spaeth]

Yet another creative stretch of civil RICO, it seems.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Product manufacturers have tried and failed with suits against eBay in the past. See Tiffany Inc. v. eBay Inc., 600 F.3d 93 (2d Cir. 2010). A French court hit eBay in 2008, but that's not the USA.

Parris's firm lists itself on ads and its web site as a personal injury firm.

From a summary of the opinion. Perhaps this plaintiff has a stronger factual case.

Tiffany’s primary argument was that eBay was a contributory infringer because it continued to supply its services to the sellers of counterfeit Tiffany goods while knowing or having reason to know that such sellers were infringing Tiffany’s mark. Tiffany argued that eBay knew, or at least had reason to know, that counterfeit Tiffany goods were being sold far and wide on its website based upon the significant pre-litigation record of communications between the parties regarding the issue. It was not disputed that eBay was aware that some counterfeit Tiffany merchandise, as well as some legitimate Tiffany merchandise, was sold on its site. The issue became whether eBay’s generalized knowledge of trademark infringement on its website was to be construed as knowledge or constructive knowledge of the infringing activity sufficient to support a claim for contributory trademark infringement.

The Second Circuit found it was not and determined that for contributory trademark infringement liability to lie, a service provider must have more than a general knowledge or reason to know that its service is being used to sell counterfeit goods. Some contemporary knowledge of which particular listings are infringing or will infringe in the future is necessary for liability to attach.

Tiffany could not demonstrate that eBay was supplying its service to individuals who it knew or had reason to know were selling counterfeit Tiffany goods. The factual record established that in each instance where Tiffany gave eBay notice that certain sellers had been selling counterfeits, those sellers’ listings were removed and repeat offenders were suspended from the eBay site. The Court declined to find that eBay was liable for the trademark infringement of other non-terminated sellers of whom Tiffany had not provided notice to eBay.

[D. Bergin]

I can guess we can get ready for the new "My item is a counterfeit and I don't have to return it now" option from the Ebay robots.

from the posted article:

According to the complaint, "Plaintiffs are informed and believe that even more shocking is that consumers actually receive email notifications and eBay webpages from eBay encouraging the purchase of known counterfeit and fake products. When confronted on the counterfeit purchases, eBay directs consumers to mail counterfeits back to the seller as a mandatory condition for a refund. Returned counterfeits are easily recycled, re-listed and re-sold to unsuspecting consumers, and the buyer loses their only evidence of receiving a counterfeit," said Parris.

[ls7plus]

Originally Posted by pariah1107

Excuse my ignorance of the law Adam.... By personal injury lawyer do you mean frivolous lawsuit pursuer, ambulance chaser, etc? I would like for this case to have merit.

No, that's not at all what real personal injury lawyers do. There are a few bad apples in every bunch, but both state and federal court rules provide for sanctions, including actual costs and attorney fees upon the making of statements in pleadings that are not well-grounded in fact or law. In addition, the lawyer can be disciplined by his respective state's bar association for unethical conduct. What a real personal injury attorney primarily does is his utmost, within the bounds of the law and the code of professional responsibility to ensure that a person who has been injured due to the legal fault of another receives just compensation for his injuries.

Now you actually know.

Larry

[callou2131]

Well....when they are informed time and time again with proof of a counterfeit item, and still allow that item to sell, they should be held responsible in some way. I recall a Gretzky auto patch in one instance where two dozen plus people had contacted ebay informing them that it was indeed a counterfeit patch in the card including dated photos of the serial numbered card. The now worthless card sold in excess of $4,000. Of course since you can no longer contact buyers this poor guy now has a worthless counterfeit card and is out 4 grand. Of course that is just 1 example. The contenders rookie of Tannehill, Luck, RG3, and Russel Wilson are all over too. Sure the sellers should bear the main responsibility, but when the marketplace Ebay is informed they too IMO should bear responsibility. Not a lawyer just an opinion.

[Exhibitman]

No, I meant someone who doesn't specialize in business law or class actions, but whose usual cases involve a single injured plaintiff with catastrophic physical injuries. Some of my best friends are personal injury attorneys.

[Tabe]

My personal area of expertise on this subject is sports jerseys. A search for any top player - especially football player - will reveal a HUGE percentage of fakes. It's not unusual to have 90% or more of a search's results be fakes.

Years ago, I got a catalog in the mail from Ebay trying to encourage me to shop on Ebay for Christmas. On the cover, they touted the low prices of various products as purchased on Ebay. One of the items listed was "Authentic Peyton Manning Jerseys" with an average price of $37. Anybody who knows anything at all about football jerseys knows that you can't buy legit jerseys of Peyton Manning for $37 barring a fluke. No, the only way to get one that cheap - let alone to AVERAGE one that cheap - is for the jerseys to be fakes.

There's no question that Ebay knows that tons of counterfeits are sold on Ebay. They do nothing about it, even when confronted. They do nothing to bar sellers who frequently sell such items from doing business on Ebay. And they do nothing to keep previously-banned sellers from returning.

[Peter_Spaeth]

To heck with paying 37 bucks, pay 19!!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AUTHENTIC-NF...item4aef3e2044

[callou2131]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

To heck with paying 37 bucks, pay 19!!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AUTHENTIC-NF...item4aef3e2044

lol nice. And the problem with this is it lowers the selling prices of the real jerseys as well. Last authentic brand new with tags Hockey jersey I sold I think I got $30 for it.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by callou2131

lol nice. And the problem with this is it lowers the selling prices of the real jerseys as well. Last authentic brand new with tags Hockey jersey I sold I think I got $30 for it.

The other autograph website (AML) that I contribute to just posted the below story.

Much of the credit goes to our member Ryan who has been exposing the "Auto Scouts" for years.

http://www.wfmj.com/story/29910070/2...-in-the-valley

http://live.autographmagazine.com/fo...=msg_com_forum

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

To heck with paying 37 bucks, pay 19!!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AUTHENTIC-NF...item4aef3e2044

That jersey isn't a fake. Counterfeiters don't bother with faking replica jerseys.