San Francisco-based Craigslist Inc., the online
advertising provider, accused San Jose-based eBay Inc. of using its
minority stake in the company to extract confidential information that
helped start a competing classified-advertising Web site. Executives of
San Jose-based eBay, the most-visited e-commerce site, obtained a seat
on Craigs-list's board after buying 28 percent of the company's shares
and used that access for "data mining," lawyers for Craigslist claimed
in a filing in a Delaware lawsuit over the company's decision to adopt
corporate defense measures. "The great thing about the investment is we
get a seat at the table to learn," eBay executive Garrett Price told
colleagues in September 2004, according to Craigslist's July 17 filing.
A Delaware Chancery Court judge is scheduled to hear testimony starting
Oct. 5 about whether Craigslist owners Craig Newmark and James
Buckmaster diluted eBay's stake by changing the San Francisco-based
company's stock structure as part of its defensive moves.
EBay’s lawyers are asking Chancery Judge William B. Chandler in Georgetown, Delaware, to bar the testimony of internet expert Robert Cauthorn, whom Craigslist hired as an expert on Web-based classified advertising. EBay says the expert's years as a online newspaper executive don’t qualify him to serve as an expert on the reasonableness of the actions of corporate directors and he shouldn’t be allowed to testify about EBay’s relationship with Craigslist.
Excerpted from insidebayarea.com.
EBay’s lawyers are asking Chancery Judge William B. Chandler in Georgetown, Delaware, to bar the testimony of internet expert Robert Cauthorn, whom Craigslist hired as an expert on Web-based classified advertising. EBay says the expert's years as a online newspaper executive don’t qualify him to serve as an expert on the reasonableness of the actions of corporate directors and he shouldn’t be allowed to testify about EBay’s relationship with Craigslist.
Excerpted from insidebayarea.com.
