eBay Vs. Craigslist, Round II. Craigslist Punches Back With Its Own Lawsuit.
Following the lawsuit eBay filed against Craigslist two weeks ago, Craigslist is punching back today. In a countersuit (complaint embedded below), Craigslist wants back the 28.4 percent of its shares that eBay bought in 2004. It also wants the court to award Craiglsit eBay’s related profits, and punitive damages on top of it all. Craigslist is accusing eBay of:
unlawful and unfair competition, misappropriation of proprietary information, deceptive passing-off, business interference, false advertising, phishing attacks, free-riding, trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and breaches of fiduciary duty.
The complaint details how former eBay CEO Meg Whitman sweet talked Craig Newmark into the deal after it nearly fell apart, and then goes on to allege that eBay used its position as a large minority shareholder to try to learn competitive secrets from Craigslist, while launching competitor Kijiji in Europe. Now that Kijiji has entered the U.S. and is going straight for Craigslist, the gloves are off.
eBay filed first, though. So it has the legal advantage. But Craigslist has the reputation and publicity advantage. Everyone loves to root for an underdog. This legal brawl could lead to a customer backlash for eBay if customers decide to take sides.
In the complaint, Craigslist details eBay’s strong-arm tactics both during the negotiations for its equity stake and afterwards. One of the reasons Craigslist agreed to teh deal was because eBay founder Pierre Omidyar was named to Craigslist’s board. But he only served a year, and was replaced by Joshua Silverman, an the executive in charge of eBay Europe (who oversaw Kijiji). Silvreman was quickly replaced, speculates the complaint, because of “antitrust” concerns.
The complaint also describes how eBay tried to undermine Craigslist by buying Google ads for keywords such as “Craigslist.org” and “Craigslits.com,” which then redirected to Kijiji. Oh boy, this is going to get ugly.
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eBay Vs. Craigslist, Round II. Craigslist Punches Back With Its Own Lawsuit.
Following the lawsuit eBay filed against Craigslist two weeks ago, Craigslist is punching back today. In a countersuit (complaint embedded below), Craigslist wants back the 28.4 percent of its shares that eBay bought in 2004. It also wants the court to award Craiglsit eBay’s related profits, and punitive damages on top of it all. Craigslist is accusing eBay of:
unlawful and unfair competition, misappropriation of proprietary information, deceptive passing-off, business interference, false advertising, phishing attacks, free-riding, trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and breaches of fiduciary duty.
The complaint details how former eBay CEO Meg Whitman sweet talked Craig Newmark into the deal after it nearly fell apart, and then goes on to allege that eBay used its position as a large minority shareholder to try to learn competitive secrets from Craigslist, while launching competitor Kijiji in Europe. Now that Kijiji has entered the U.S. and is going straight for Craigslist, the gloves are off.
eBay filed first, though. So it has the legal advantage. But Craigslist has the reputation and publicity advantage. Everyone loves to root for an underdog. This legal brawl could lead to a customer backlash for eBay if customers decide to take sides.
In the complaint, Craigslist details eBay’s strong-arm tactics both during the negotiations for its equity stake and afterwards. One of the reasons Craigslist agreed to teh deal was because eBay founder Pierre Omidyar was named to Craigslist’s board. But he only served a year, and was replaced by Joshua Silverman, an the executive in charge of eBay Europe (who oversaw Kijiji). Silvreman was quickly replaced, speculates the complaint, because of “antitrust” concerns.
The complaint also describes how eBay tried to undermine Craigslist by buying Google ads for keywords such as “Craigslist.org” and “Craigslits.com,” which then redirected to Kijiji. Oh boy, this is going to get ugly.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Craigslist Competitor OLX Raises $13.5M
According to co-founder Fabrice Grinda, “OLX is probably the largest classified site no one has ever heard of.” And now it’s also the most funded classified site no one has ever heard of, having secured an additional $13.5M in Series B funding today from General Catalyst, Bessemer Venture Partners, Founders Fund, and DN Capital.
The round brings OLX’s total funding up to $23.5M after raising a previously undisclosed Series A round of $10M in September 2007 with the same VCs and various angels.
Americans are not likely to have heard of OLX because its popularity lies mainly outside of the United States in places like Spain, India, Portugal, Mexico, South America, China, and the Philippines. It has established a presence in a total of 40 countries while supporting 15 languages. Much of its success in the Philippines can be attributed to its white label partnership with Friendster. Its offices are also spread over the globe with 92 employees working out of New York, Buenos Aires, Beijing, and Moscow.
The idea behind OLX, in addition to becoming Craigslist for the rest of the world, is to improve on the technology of first generation classified sites. Grinda prides OLX in its Web 2.0 features which include social network widgets, better search, Ajax-based editors, interactive maps, and mobile versions.
OLX was launched in June 2006 by Grinda with co-founder Alec Oxenford. In addition to taking on Craigslist, OLX faces off against eBay’s Kijiji, which poses the biggest international threat because it has also taken an aggressive global campaign.
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