According to the New York Times, eBay is a boom for many people wishing to sell products online, but it's also a haven for fakers who want to sell knock off items at ridiculously low prices.

Some businesses have decided enough is enough when it comes to fakes and imitations. Take Tiffany and Co. The company is suing eBay for facilitating trade in counterfeit Tiffany items.

In 2004, Tiffany secretly purchased around 200 items from eBay in an investigation into how the auction site was dealing with the thousands of pieces of counterfeit Tiffany jewelry. The luxury goods store found that three out of four pieces sold as authentic were fakes.

EBay, based in San Jose, Calif., argues that it has no obligation to investigate counterfeiting claims unless the complaint comes from a "rights owner," a party holding a trademark or copyright. A mere buyer who believes an item is a fake has almost no recourse.

"We never take possession of the goods sold through eBay, and we don't have any expertise," said Hani Durzy, an eBay spokesman. "We're not clothing experts. We're not car experts, and we're not jewelry experts. We're experts at building a marketplace and bringing buyers and sellers together."

New York Times

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