WebProNews

Last month online auction site eBay sued online classified site Craigslist alleging that the company had reduced eBay's 25 percent stake in Craigslist through reorganization and now Craigslist is countersuing eBay.

In a blog post from Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster he writes," We filed a complaint in California today, charging eBay with unlawful and unfair competition, misappropriation of proprietary information, deceptive passing-off, business interference, false advertising, phishing attacks, free-riding, trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and breaches of fiduciary duty."

In eBay's suit against Craigslist it charges that the company's two primary shareholders, founder Craig Newmark and CEO Jim Buckmaster deliberately altered Craigslist's shares and corporate rules to weaken eBay's share in the company.

Their actions "are a thinly disguised strategem to force eBay to sell its share to them at a below-market price," eBay's lawsuit said.

The disagreement began when eBay launched Kijiji.com, its own version of an online classified site in the U.S. last year. The site originally launched overseas in 2005.