eBay Wins Partial Dismissal in Foreign Knockoffs Liability Suit

eBay Inc. escaped most of a copyright infringement lawsuit from an artist who claimed the online marketplace allowed foreign counterfeiters to use her photographs of bird costumes she makes and sells.

US District Judge Lance Walker on Friday dismissed Ellen Okolita’s claims of direct and contributory copyright infringement, though he gave her a chance to amend her complaint.

The judge, writing for the US District Court for the District of Maine, ruled that Okolita’s claim of vicarious infringement could advance at this early stage of the case. The judge said she had enough evidence in her complaint to allege ...