Craigslist Responds To eBay: I Know You Are, But What Am I?

from the time-to-find-a-lawyer,-guys dept

After eBay released its side of the story in the eBay-Craigslist lawsuit, we noted that it looked pretty damning against Craigslist, but we wanted to hear Craig and Jim's side of the story. Well, their initial response isn't all that convincing. At best, it highlights a few points in the lawsuit and claims "but eBay did the same thing!" But, that's not at all accurate, unfortunately. eBay isn't suing Craigslist because it has a poison pill, or because it wants a staggered board or the right of first refusal agreement -- as Craigslist implies. It's suing because Craig and Jim put those provisions in place by themselves, without the wider consent of the board or eBay as a significant shareholder. In other words, Craigslist's response isn't on the meat of the lawsuit, and appears to be missing the point entirely. One would hope that their response in court has more substance.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: competition, dillution, poison pill
Companies: craigslist, ebay


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    steveballmer, 2 May 2008 @ 5:53pm

    Stupid Arguement!

    Neither of them are important, only MS!@

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2008 @ 6:20pm

    Who really cares? I don't!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Hellsvilla, 2 May 2008 @ 6:36pm

    Re: Stupid Arguement!

    dude, your blog sucks, stop spamming

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2008 @ 6:36pm

    Craigswhat?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2008 @ 6:39pm

    Re: Stupid Arguement!

    Whens the zunephone coming out, monkeyboy?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    astro73, 2 May 2008 @ 11:27pm

    Suing without the IP?

    It's a story about a lawsuit over something other than copyrights, patents, trademarks, or some other imaginary property? It can't be!

    Seriously, one (or both) of them broke an agreement. I think this is one of the first legit suits I've heard in a while.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Sean, 3 May 2008 @ 5:24am

    Converted

    OK, I was previously of the opinion that JKR had a case, but now OSC (don't you love the acronyms!) has convinced me otherwise.
    I think my brother has Enders Game, I'll have to and re-read it.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 May 2008 @ 9:06am

    Re: Converted

    Wrong article, JKR doesn't care about craiglist, unless they are selling the new Lexicon.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 May 2008 @ 12:41pm

    Re: Re: Converted

    Bush doesn't care about black people.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    jd, 3 May 2008 @ 5:41pm

    Wow, a lot of highly irrelevant posts.

    Anyway, the argument is poor mainly because few people have the faintest idea what this article is referencing. It's not like it is an issue that is ramphant in the media.

    A link would be very helpful. In which case, Craig's list it itself is rather shady, and so it's ebay. Granted Craig's is haven for the lowly and not necessarily the nerd in the basement.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 May 2008 @ 6:31pm

    Re: Stupid Arguement!

    NEWSFLASH-
    YOU DIDN'T GET YAHOO.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    thetechguyj, 4 May 2008 @ 10:47am

    ebay

    e bay sucks craigs list is ok may be some one should come out with an aution that uses both concepts. that would be worth useing




    tech

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Overcast, 4 May 2008 @ 1:18pm

    Pay pal was enough to get me away from E-bay - Craigslist or not. Btu that being said - I sue craigslist quite a lot now.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 May 2008 @ 2:39pm

    Re: ebay

    Well ebay is a combo in a way since you can both auction for items and have them sent to you or you can auction/buy them and pick them up locally.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    Eliot, 4 May 2008 @ 8:13pm

    Non Sequitor is Latin for 'it does not follow.'

    Seriously, what the hell is with all the randomly useless crap posted as comments?

    Back on topic: I think that Craigslist may have messed up. We'll have to see what happens.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    lecllc1157, 4 May 2008 @ 9:04pm

    Did eBay break the law or fly below the radar?

    eBay is out to dominate any competitor they perceive as a threat to their way of thinking, even if that domination might break the law. For people who are new to the eBay boycott being supported internationally: As per eBay's new "restructuring" policies and changes, if you want to sell on eBay, you must allow eBay to: 1. Steal your right to leave honest feedback 2. Force an unfair DSR system. a) Punishing you for favorable ratings between "Good Transaction" & Excellent Transaction" 3. Hide your listings in "Best Matches", but not tell you how placings are calculated. 4. Force you to accept PayPal. 5. Put "WARNING" signs on your listings for not offering PayPal. 6. To refund YOUR money (via PayPal) to a customer at PayPal ‘s sole discretion. 7. Withhold your funds for 21+ days, via PayPal. 8. Hide your bidders' IDs. 9. Pad their listing numbers. 10. Lie to the media. 11. Give bad customers coupons, so they will continue to abuse sellers. 12. Increase your FVF by 67%, at their whim. 13. Withhold performance discounts from you. 14. Throw away your feedback percentages, except for the last 12 months. 15. Remove your auctions and not notify you why. 16. Censor your opinions and ban you for those opinions. 17. Red flag your auctions and put others listings on them. 18. Ruin their own reputation by protecting scammers. 19. Make you pay for their mistakes. Boycott eBay, and the monopoly they’ve created! UNITED WE STAND - DIVIDE WE FALL! The International Boycott IS ALIVE & WELL! Join the N.O.I.S.E. & Boycott Feebay / Rapepal. Boycott May 1st and beyond. JUSY SAY NO TO EBAY! BOYCOTT IN YOUR OWN WAY!!!! If you are boycotting eBay, please add your name to the map at: http://www.frappr.com/?a=constellation_map&mapid=137440513566 http://forums.delphiforu ms.com/boycottebay/messages/?start=Start+Reading+%3E%3E http://www.accknowl.com/index.htm

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.