Dodging A Bullet: eBay Scoots Through Another Lawsuit

After getting buttraped to the tune of $63.2 million by the snooty French, eBay escaped yet another slap on the wrist, this time by the hands of Tiffany('s).

The uber-expensive jewelry peeps were told to eff off by Judge Richard Sullivan of the Federal District Court in Manhattan. He said,

Tiffany has failed to demonstrate that eBay knowingly encouraged others to dilute Tiffany’s trademarks. Rather, to the extent that eBay may have possessed general knowledge of infringement and dilution by sellers on its website, eBay did not possess knowledge or a reason to know of specific instances of trademark infringement or dilution as required under the law.

Tiffany is expected to appeal, natch.

Judge Sullivan makes it so that Internet companies do not, in fact, have to actively filter their sites for copyrighted or trademarked material. That's up to intellectual property-holders. Huzzah!

In other news, sell me your old iPhone.

Court Clears eBay in Sale of Counterfeit Items [NYT]