The company was sued two years ago by a group of buyers. They claimed that eBay violated a California state statute by failing to verify the authenticity of the items sold on its auction site. It was alleged that eBay knew about the fake sports collectibles but failed to respond to consumers’ complaints and warnings from the authorities.
However the court ruled that eBay is immune from liability, under a federal law which protects “interactive computer service providers” from the misdeeds of their users caused by third parties.
The court stated that the victims of the fraud could not hold eBay "responsible for misinformation or misrepresentations originating with" others.
The decision is the last in a series of rulings that back-up eBay’s stance that it is free of liability. The company has admitted higher-than-normal rates of fraud in its on-line auctions. It claims, however, that it tries to control it by suspending sellers or reporting them to the authorities. It has also introduced a fraud detection system.