This week saw the introduction of legislation in the U.S. designed to fight the problem of stolen goods on eBay and other marketplaces, while eBay won a battle in Germany in the war that brand-owners are waging against fakes on the auction site.
eBay won a court ruling in a case in Germany brought by Rolex Group when the court found that Rolex couldn't show that any similar counterfeit goods were offered on eBay after the company had been alerted to the sales. According to Bloomberg, a spokesman for the court said, "EBay now uses a filter program to detect offerings that blatantly violate trademark rights. EBay doesn't have to review each item before it gets posted on its site, because that would jeopardize the whole business model."
Meanwhile in the United States, an organization of the largest U.S. retailers - Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) - announced that three Congressional measures were introduced this week to combat "organized retail crime." RILA said Organized Retail Crime (ORC) involves sophisticated crime rings that move from store to store stealing large quantities of goods. The stolen merchandise is then sold, often to unknowing customers, through flea markets, swap meets, pawn shops and, increasingly, on Internet auction sites.
Similar legislation was introduced last year that would have required online auction sites to retain information about high-volume sellers and provide that information to retailers and to law enforcement officials in cases where police reports have been filed. At the time, eBay said the legislation was more about limiting competition than about crime.
RILA describes the three bills as follows:
The Combating Organized Retail Crime Act of 2009 introduced by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and co-sponsored by Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) would clarify existing law to give law enforcement the tools to fight ORC, require online and off-line market places to investigate suspicious sales, and place basic disclosure requirements on on-line marketplaces.
The Organized Retail Crime Act of 2009 HR 1173, introduced by Congressman Brad Ellsworth (D-IN) and co-sponsored by Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) would amend federal criminal code, making it illegal to engage in activities that further organized retail crime. To deter illegal activities of organized retail criminals, it would also impose specific and narrow obligations upon on-line marketplaces known to be used by high-volume sellers of stolen merchandise.
The E-Fencing Enforcement Act of 2009 HR 1166, introduced by Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA) is a carefully tailored bill that tackles the selling of stolen goods online, the bill would address ORC by imposing reasonable duties on online marketplaces to collect information that law enforcement can in turn use to prosecute those that fence goods on their websites. The bill requires that online marketplaces halt the sale of goods on websites if the goods are determined to be stolen.
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Proposed Law Targets Stolen Goods on eBay, Amazon (eWeek)
