counterfeit

Update at 8:40 a.m. PDT: Reaction from L'Oreal has been added.

eBay has won another lawsuit over the sale of counterfeit goods on its site.

A U.K. court ruled Friday that eBay cannot be held accountable for the sale of fake cosmetics on its auction site, as L'Oreal alleged in its lawsuit filed in March.

The cosmetics giant has long criticized eBay for not doing enough to halt the hawking of phony products that bear the L'Oreal name. But eBay has insisted it merely provides the trading space for its users and has no … Read more

Online auction company eBay has emerged a winner in its latest lawsuit over counterfeit goods.

A French court ruled in favor of eBay in a suit filed by L'Oreal, eBay said on Wednesday. The cosmetics giant sought $4.8 million in damages, accusing eBay of allowing counterfeit goods to be traded on its site. The judge, Elisabeth Belfort, said eBay couldn't be held accountable for sales of fake products on its site. The ruling added that through its anticounterfeiting measures, eBay has "fulfilled its obligations of loyalty to other operators on the market."

eBay has said … Read more

After months of secrecy that has rankled public interest groups, the Obama administration is revealing limited information regarding a multilateral anti-counterfeiting treaty currently under negotiation.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Monday released a summary (PDF) of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a treaty for which negotiations began in 2006 with the aim of setting standards for the enforcement of intellectual property rights.

"We look forward to taking more steps to engage with the public in our efforts to make trade work for American families, " U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in a statement that … Read more

Eleven counterfeiters have been given jail sentences of between one and a half and six and a half years by a Chinese court after being found guilty of producing fake Microsoft software.

The "ringleaders of the world's largest software-counterfeiting syndicate," as Microsoft described them in a statement on Wednesday, were sentenced on New Year's Eve. According to Microsoft, theirs were the longest sentences given for this type of crime in China's history.

The syndicate was charged with making and distributing more than $2 billion worth of fake Microsoft software, which had ended up all over … Read more

Updated at 2:10 PM PDT with analysis from attorney Heather McDonald.

Tiffany & Co. announced on Monday that it is appealing a recent federal court decision that said eBay is not responsible for policing counterfeit listings on its auction site.

In July, U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan ruled that eBay could not be forced by trademark law to examine individual auction listings. "The law is clear," he wrote. "It is the trademark owner's burden to police its mark."

"We believe that legal errors were made in this decision, and we have every … Read more

With the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies happening this Friday, we're betting most of you will be stuck on the couch all weekend, rooting for your home country (probably the good ol' USA, right?) as they compete in baseball, basketball, football, maybe even synchronized swimming for those select few.

You should, since NBC, CNBC, Universal HD, and most of NBC's channels will be broadcasting the games around the world in gorgeous 1080i. If not, consider picking one of following new Blu-ray releases. Yes, the selection is slim for this week, but one of them did win an Oscar for … Read more

We really don't know what to make of this gadget, for a variety of reasons. First there's the odd combination of features--memory card reader, flash drive, USB charger, and a UV counterfeit money detector, of all things. Then there's the $9.99 price, which can barely buy a keychain these days. But weirdest of all is the design: a ladybug.

One can't help but wonder what goes through the mind of an engineer who comes up with something like this. Actually, it's probably just as well that this twisted thought process isn't applied to … Read more

Being a native New Yorker, I've seen a lot of knock-off products, such as designer clothes, bags, fragrances, watches, DVDs, and even sneakers. But I had no idea cell phones were a part of the list of bootleg products.

According to Phone Scoop and RCR Wireless News, federal authorities in New York have uncovered nearly 20,000 counterfeit phones, many of them posing as popular brand names from major handset manufacturers. The phones were seized in March 2008 from a company called Perfect Connection, located in Queens, N.Y. Among the counterfeit handsets were 5,503 Sony Ericsson, 5,… Read more

This high-end designer boutique in a trendy part of Seoul sells these bags at higher than Louis Vuitton's full prices, which is not nearly as hilarious as Louis Vuitton's unique methods in fighting back counterfeiters these days. Just look at this fake set-up of a fake bag seller that sells real bags during a recent exhibit launch party in New York. (via Notcot)