Craigslist sues EBay, alleges unfair practices

Online classifieds leader Craigslist.com filed a countersuit Tuesday against business rival EBay Inc., alleging that EBay had used its minority stake in Craigslist to steal corporate trade secrets.

In a lawsuit filed in Superior Court in San Francisco, Craigslist challenged allegations in an EBay suit filed in Delaware state court in April that accused Craigslist of discriminating against EBay as a shareholder.

EBay’s suit charged that Craigslist had used “clandestine meetings” to dilute EBay’s 28.4% stake in Craigslist to 24.85%.

A spokeswoman for EBay was not immediately available to comment on Craigslist’s suit.

In addition to unfair competition and fraudulent business claims, the countersuit accuses EBay of copyright infringement and using misleading advertising on Google Inc. to run ads for its rival Kijiji site that appeared to be Craigslist ads.