Ebay conviction overturned for man who bought stolen goods

Berlin (Germany) - A controversial conviction has been thrown out for a man who purchased stolen goods from Ebay.

A 47-year-old software engineer was convicted of buying stolen goods for a purchase of a GPS system he bought on the auction site in 2005. The new device reportedly was sold on a buy-it-now basis for less than one third of its retail list price.

After police determined it was stolen, they arrested the man. A lower court’s ruling found him guilty, making the claim that he should have known it was stolen because the price was so low. He was fined 1200 euros ($1700).

However, on appeal the decision was overturned. A German state court ruled that there was not sufficient evidence to support the idea that the man knew the device was stolen.

Germany is Ebay’s second-ranked market, just behind the United States.