Legal Dispute Escalates With Craigslist Countersuit Against EBay
Web classified company Craigslist has filed a countersuit against eBay that claims the auction company interfered with its business operations and infringed its trademark after acquiring a minority stake in Craigslist.
The suit was filed just two weeks after eBay sued Craigslist executives claiming they improperly sought to dilute eBay’s interest in the company, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.). The original suit said the executives were aided by Edward Wes, a corporate lawyer at Perkins Coie, the Recorder reports.
Perkins Coie represents Craigslist in its new lawsuit against eBay, filed in California state court in San Francisco.
The new suit claims eBay invested in Craigslist with the goal of taking it over, the Recorder story says. The suit says eBay violated Craigslist’s trademark in ads promoting its own online classified site, Kijiji. The ads mentioned Kijiji in fine print and Craigslist in larger headlines, the suit says.
An agreement said eBay would have to relinquish some shareholder rights if it competed with Craigslist on job listings, the new complaint says.
EBay spokeswoman Kim Rubey said the new suit made “unfounded and unsubstantiated claims in order to divert attention from actions by Craigslist’s board that unfairly diluted our minority interest.”
