Craigslist charges eBay with corporate espionage

Two California-based Internet icons- Craigslist and eBay have become involved in a bitter legal dispute. Ebay, which owns about 28 percent of Craigslist, fired the first salvo by filing suit in Delaware state court that that accused Craigslist of discriminating against eBay as a shareholder and using “clandestine meetings” to dilute eBay’s ownership stake. Craigslist has now filed a countersuit charging that eBay used its position to gather competitive information that was used to help lauch Kijiji, which many consider to be a direct competitor to Craigslist. The complaint charges that eBay code-named this its “Craigslist killer” in internal strategy discussions. Craigslist’s also alleges a plot by eBay to use its position as a minority shareholder and its position on the board to pressure Craigslist into a full-scale acquisition deal by eBay. “In the months leading up to the launch of its competing Kijiji site … eBay used its shareholder status to plant on Craigslist’s board of directors the individual responsible for launching and/or operating Kijiji,” the suit alleges. “Using the pretext that the information was necessary for Craigslist board-related matters, eBay made constant demands for confidential information in excess of what was required for that purpose”.