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Tiffany tries to close knockoff Web sites

NORFOLK, Va., Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Tiffany & Co., the pricey New York jeweler, has asked a federal court to shut down Web sites offering knockoff Tiffany goods at knockoff prices.

The company filed the lawsuit in Norfolk, Va., where the Web sites' registrars are based, The Virginian-Pilot reported.

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At a hearing Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith granted Tiffany a 14-day extension of a temporary injunction against 44 Web sites. That gives the company more time to attempt to track down the people behind the sites.

Tiffany has found the sites are nimble, changing names and Web addresses. The company hired a private investigator in China who found that phony addresses and telephone numbers had been used to register sites.

But the sites have responded to the lawsuit in their own way, the newspaper said. About half the 44 named in the suit, including tiffanystore.org and tiffanymall.org, now send visitors to a site about the lawsuit.

Another site, ustiffanysale.com, sends its visitors to ustiffany4sale.com. That site says although its offerings "may look the same as those original Tiffany & Co. jewelry, they are not made by Tiffany & Co."

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