Craigslist vs eBay

Craigslist vs eBay officially kicked-off in a San Francisco courtroom and the judge did not throw the case out, surprising Meg Whitman and eBay.

eBay did not convince a San Francisco judge that the eBay vs Craigslist Delaware lawsuit it won last year neutralized Craigslist's claims of fraud in a California case.

Legal counsel for eBay argued that the Delaware case dealt with every nuance of its relationship with Craigslist, but San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer disagreed, declaring that the Delaware judge left things open-ended.

"He makes no legal conclusion as to whether eBay is liable for the various claims in the California case.  He said clearly he is leaving it to me to resolve the California claims," Judge Kramer said, referring to the judge who presided over last year's Delaware case.

San Francisco-based Craigslist claims that Meg Whitman and eBay ripped-off confidential information to start a competing Craigslist clone when the two companies were in negotiations about eBay purchasing a chunk of Craigslist.

The California lawsuit allegations include breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, negligent misrepresentation and California securities laws violation.

The case of Craigslist vs eBay will continue in 8 weeks, and case watchers insist there is plenty of drama ahead.

San Jose-based eBay purchased 28 percent of Craigslist in 2004.  eBay then secretly developed their own online classified site called Kijiji in 2007, which has since been renamed eBayClassifieds.com.

News of the Kijiji classifieds site pushed Craigslist owners Craig Newmark and James Buckmaster to immediately protect their company and to strip eBay of its seat on their board.

Newmark and Buckmaster believed that Meg Whitman and eBay were stealing their trade secrets and posed a dire threat to Craigslist.

The California lawsuit, originally filed years ago, was put on hold pending the outcome of last year's Delaware case.  Now the California case will resume in Judge Richard Kramer's courtroom.

An upcoming hearing is scheduled for September 2011 in the case of Craigslist v. eBay, 475276, Superior Court of California, San Francisco.