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eBay wins 'trademark dilution' suit |
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Written by Felix Da Silva (fdasilva@bitnip.com)
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Wednesday, 07 November 2007 |
 The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a lower court's ruling
in favour of eBay v. Perfumebay.com and Perfume-bay.com. The similar sounding sites must get a new name, according to the appellate panel's decision
Monday.
According to the Associated Press, eBay
had argued that the names confused customers, who might think they were on an
official eBay site.
EBay has for years has waged legal fights against Web sites with all sorts of
names that end with "bay." It has closed down AutoBay, RentBay and other sites.
EBay spokesman Hani Durzy said,
It's an important decision—not just for us and our trademark but for Internet
users everywhere who may have been confused if they were on eBay or not. Jacquelyn Tran, CEO of Huntington Beach-based Perfume Bay, said she would appeal and ask for an emergency stay of the injunction to keep operating Perfumebay.com. She goes on to say,
We are a small, entrepreneurial company taking on eBay, a multibillion dollar
giant. Too often, Goliaths are victorious in these types of battles. We are fighting
for small business everywhere, for our more than 300,000 customers around the
world, and for the American Dream. Sympathy and small businesses should not be given leeway when there is a likelyhood of confusion and it will likely dilute other marks. However in this case, it seems as though eBay is having a bit too much power over anything with a combination with the word "bay" in it.
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