posted on February 15, 2013 06:57:52 PM new
Tiffany is taking Costco to court for selling fake Tiffany diamond rings .
It also asked to see past sales record as it thinks Costco has been selling such diamond for years!
Now Tiffany back in 2004 took Ebay to court for false advertising-allowing ebay sellers to sell fake Tiffany products.
It lost as the court deems the manufacturer should be monitoring such activity,not the venue provider.
Question No 1-
The Costco I go to ,it has a jewelry store,but if not mistaken,it is not owned by Costco,so is Costco just a venue provider?
Question NO 2-
If the court said Tiffany the manufacturer should be monitoring sales of fake Tiffany products,does it mean Tiffany can come to Ebay and take individual sellers to court?
posted on February 16, 2013 05:27:42 AM new
Q1 As My tiny knowledge of contract law is furnished by parlegal training & The Peoples Court Costco & the jewelry vendor can both be held libal. The suit is going after the party that has the most cash. To add a little fuel every customer who thought they were buying a Tiffany diamond from Costco can sue both parties!
Q2 Yes If a seller uses Tiffany in any part of their advertiing thsy better be selling something that has a tiffany label or be an authorized Tiffany dealer. Its like adverising you have a Ford Mustang for sale and shipping the customer a Ford Pinto.
posted on February 16, 2013 06:27:52 AM new
WOW!Thanks for the information,yes,take Ebay/Costco to court,they have more $dough$!.
I used to belong to Costco and went there every month,but cant justify the annual membership fee as I dont buy enough,but Costco always have outside vendors peddling their goods inside the store.
Once I saw such a vendor selling Coach handbags,even untrained eyes like mine can tell they are not authentic Coach
[ edited by lostmymojo on Feb 16, 2013 08:48 AM ]
posted on February 18, 2013 07:02:51 PM new
If Tiffany cannot win in court vs Ebay,can it ask Ebay for Ebay sellers information so it can take individual sellers to court?
Or does it have to buy a piece of junk trinklet from individual seller and then take him/her to court?
It wont be worth the efforts but it will sure give Ebay a bad name??
Tiffany can just go down the list and buy every piece of Tiffany fakes on Ebay and start a class action suit vs all Ebay fake tiffany sellers?
[ edited by lostmymojo on Feb 18, 2013 07:04 PM ]
posted on February 19, 2013 07:00:05 AM new
An interesting spin. Since the Judge decided that Tiffany should be monitoring activity of fake items, would someone who purchased a fake Tiffany item be able to sue Tiffany over purchasing a fake item since there is now precedence that Tiffany is responsible to monitor this activity?
posted on February 19, 2013 07:04:22 AM new
Additionally, I wonder if a new lawsuit would find eBay responsible since all of the chances eBay has made since 2004. eBay has worked very hard to put their face on all of the transactions. Many people have stated that eBay is no longer a "marketplace". eBay now handles all of the invoicing and payment process, so a buyer is technically paying eBay and then eBay/Paypal is paying the seller.
posted on February 19, 2013 10:10:19 AM new
You would have to sue the seller. They are the ones branding product as Tiffany when it is not. Peoples Court a few years ago!
posted on February 19, 2013 05:25:16 PM new
Shag,
yeah,people usually say Look,I bought it on Ebay,No one remembers the ebay seller XYZ.
Ebay does have some rules-if you are based in SE Asia,you can only list one or two Tiffany jewelry at a time,not ten or hundreds.
There has been rumors floating around for years,some Koreans are making knockoff Channel jewelry,they look real,for 2 years !
posted on February 20, 2013 08:07:18 AM new
my point is that if a judge decides it is Tiffany's responsibility to monitor this, then under the same assumption, it would be Tiffany's responsibility to prevent people from buying them. I am only stating what I see as a continuation of how ridiculous this decision is.
posted on February 20, 2013 10:29:41 AM new
I dont think so,surgeon general warns smoking is bad for your health and the message is on every pack of cigarette.
Is the surgeon general responsible for all the tobacco related death?
posted on February 21, 2013 02:56:18 PM new
Different. Surgeon General is doing their job warning the public that the item inside the package may cause cancer.
Tiffany is not labeling fake rings as, "item may not be authentic."
posted on February 21, 2013 06:07:50 PM new
It looks like on eBay there maybe around 30-40,000 listings for various Tiffany products. This could run into the 100,000's more world wide so they have to pick there battles.
posted on February 22, 2013 06:13:34 AM new
The fake ones are usually the small pieces of silver jewelry with or without the blue bag,Tiffany can just go down the list and buy from all these sellers and file Item not as Described.
When item is a knockoff,the buyer would get his money back plus asked to destroy the item,do it many times and the sellers will not only lose their merchandise,shipping ,he will also be negged by Tiffany and warned by Paypal for too many cases filed against him.
Can you imagine getting negative feedback from Tiffany & Co saying we are Tiffany and we deem this item to be fake,do not buy.
posted on February 22, 2013 01:06:30 PM new
Your plan might give a couple dozen CS people some place in Asia a job, but it would cost Tiffany big bucks. Better to let the buyer file a not as discribed complaint and get his refund zipped out of the sellers account.
posted on February 22, 2013 03:26:52 PM new
Thats what I am suggesting,hire a few high shcool dropouts and have them chained to the PC and buy every piece of sterling silver Tiffany bracelet and pendant with blue bag and file item not as described,get their money back,destroy the item and neg the seller.
Tiffany has spent a sizable amount taking Ebay to court and lost,so what 's a few thousand dollars a month for kids bidding on Ebay.
What happens to VERO?Did they retire?
posted on February 22, 2013 05:47:26 PM new
If tiffany started buying up all the junk jewelery advertised as Tiffany's the sellers of the stuff would make a bundle.
posted on February 22, 2013 07:09:32 PM new
You are not following,when Tiffany bought the stuff,it will then file with Paypal 'item significantly not as described' and won the dispute.
When an item turns out to be a knockoff ,Paypal will advise Tiffany to destroy the item instead of returning the item,once destroyed,then Paypal will refund the amount including shipping to Tiffany,so Tiffany lost nothing.
In fact the high school drop out employed by Tiffany may not destroy the item,they can relist them on Etsy,IOFFER,AMZN,Rubylane,Bonanzle,TIAS etc and make some money.
Since Tiffany spent millions taking Ebay to court and lost,this is sweet revenge,make life miserable for Ebay and its sellers,teach them a lesson,neg them,make them lose money and give Ebay a bad name,leave plenty of nasty negs and drive these sellers out of business.
Who would buy Tiffany items from these sellers when Tiffany has left negative feedbacks.
See,this is how Tiffany should play it,customers are becoming a rare breed these days,a customer saved from knockoffs is a customer gained.
posted on February 23, 2013 07:19:53 AM new
There are 15,000 items listed on Ebay with the word Tiffany in the title in the category Fine Jewelry.
Many of them say / show the item as marked. I do not think the average consumer could tell the difference.
Years ago I bought a Silver Bead necklace on Ebay that the title & description said "Tiffany." When I received the item, there were no marks to indicate it was in fact, "Tiffany." When I contacted the seller she said that the word "Tiffany" was just a description for the kind of necklace it is, not that it was made by Tiffany. I liked the necklace & did not pay much for it, so I still have it.
posted on February 23, 2013 08:05:42 AM new
There is a company in China called Tiffany Co and they make silver jewelry just like thos made by Tiffany USA.
The Chinese also marked their porcelain hinged box as limoge,China.
Limoge is a town in France,there is no city named Limoge in CHINA.
Then the FRENCH went to intl court and won -all porcelain hinged boxes made outside Limoge,France cannot use the word Limoge when describing their hinged boxes,some are not even made of porcelain.
posted on February 24, 2013 10:04:46 AM new
The whole trademark/copyright situation online is quite interesting. Most people focus on trademark, but it is actually Trade Dress that is the most significant issue that is providing protections for items now over the 50 year threshold (beyond the trademark period).
