600 Anton Blvd., Suite 1100 • Costa Mesa, CA 92626


Protect Your Intellectual Property

Counterfeit Goods

Is someone counterfeiting your goods or passing them off as their own?  Are you wrongly being accused of counterfeiting? Are you a website operator where others are possibly selling counterfeit goods?  Let the Ahmadshahi & Associates law firm aggressively go after those who are counterfeiting your goods, and defend you against owners who indiscriminately pursue entrepreneurs in order to drive them out of business.

Sale of goods, including counterfeit goods, via the Internet is on the rise. According to the FBI’ estimates, U.S. businesses lose between $200 billion to $250 billion each year to counterfeiting. However, website owners and operators, such as eBay, are immune from liability for counterfeiting activities that may occur via their websites.

In 2004, the jeweler Tiffany & Co filed a lawsuit against eBay in the U.S. District Court of Manhattan for, amongst others, contributory counterfeiting. In a decision by the Court in July of 2008, the Court rejected Tiffany’s arguments and stated that a manufacturer or distributor is liable for contributory counterfeiting if he supplies a product that he “knows or has reason to know is engaging in trademark infringement.” Using this standard, the Court ruled that Tiffany did not meet its burden of proving that eBay continued to supply its services to a user it knew or had reason to know was engaging in counterfeiting.

While eBay may have had a generalized knowledge that some of the Tiffany goods sold on its website were counterfeit, this knowledge did not require eBay to preemptively remedy the problem. Contrary to Tiffany’s position that eBay was responsible for policing against counterfeiting, the Court squarely rejected Tiffany’s position and stated that Trademark owners are the ones responsible for policing the online marketplace for counterfeit goods, not website owners or operators such as eBay.

At the Ahmadshahi & Associates law firm, you get quality attorneys who understand the latest in trademark litigation, and will fight aggressively to defend you against those who accuse you of counterfeiting, and will help you go after those who counterfeit your goods.

For a free initial meeting with an experienced intellectual property lawyer, contact the Ahmadshahi & Associates law firm. Our law firm serves clients in the Los Angeles, California, and Chicago, Illinois, metro areas, including Hollywood, Beverly Hills, downtown L.A., and surrounding areas.. We also work with associated counsel throughout the world, including Europe, Canada, and Australia.