tiffanynecklaces221

Investors have bid up the shares of Tiffany & Co. so much that tiffany may have a hard time viewing the jewelers' report today as anything but flawed.Tiffany shares have shone over the past three months, rising 23%. The rally began late in August, when the company posted quarterly results that topped estimates and raised its outlook for the year.Much of the improvement came from Japan, where sales unexpectedly began to rise after years of flagging. Because Japan represents about a fifth of Tiffany's sales, many investors have looked at the company's shares as a Japan play. With the Nikkei continuing to rally -- since the end of August the index is up 20% -- the assumption is that Tiffany's Japan business continued to improve.But Fulcrum Global Partners analyst Stacey Widlitz points out that the company's year-over-year sales comparisons in Japan for the quarter ended Oct. 31 won't be easy. She thinks that sales at stores that have been open a year or more will come in flat, and could turn negative again.If sales did decline, investors may misconstrue it as a sign that Tiffany isn't sharing in Japan's recovery. From there, it's easy to spin a theory of how Tiffany is getting hurt by Japanese consumers' growing preference for European luxury brands over American ones.But after a heady first half of the year, overall Japanese consumer spending appears to have slowed in the Tiffany Earring sale quarter. Only in October -- the final month of Tiffany's quarter -- does it look like spending got back on track. With businesses stepping up their hiring plans and with women in their 20s and 30s playing a larger role in the Japanese labor market, any disappointment shareholders have with Tiffany's Japan business could mark a buying opportunity.Another cause for concern might be Tiffany's U.S. business. Tiffany has benefited from a market in which well-heeled consumers -- better insulated from high energy prices and cheered by soaring home values -- have been more willing to spend than their poorer counterparts.

Weekly consumer surveys conducted by ABC News show that confidence among those better-off consumers eroded during the period covered by Tiffany's latest quarter. It's possible they may have bought fewer of the company's baubles as a result.NEW YORK -- Tiffany & Co. stepped up efforts against Overstock.com, filing five lawsuits in one day against the Salt Lake City-based online retailer.The complaints, which were filed on Jan. 19 in Manhattan federal court, center on the sale of bracelets and necklaces incorporating what Tiffany alleges are knockoffs of its popular Open Heart and Bean Tiffany CuffLink sale The accusations include trademark infringement, copyright infringement and use of false designations of origin. Tiffany is seeking $150,000 in statutory damages as well as an unspecified amount in punitive damages in each case.Overstock.com did not comment on the matter by press time.The new complaints bring the number of lawsuits Tiffany has pending against Overstock up to six.The heart and bean pendant designs were the focus of Tiffany's original suit, filed on Oct. 17, 2003, in which the company accused Overstock and a Canadian-based shipping operation of knowingly selling counterfeit items to customers of its Web site as genuine Tiffany products. According to the complaint, the pendants were advertised on the Web site as Tiffany products and were sent to customers in the distinctive "Tiffany Blue" packaging.In an amended complaint filed on Nov. 20, 2003, Tiffany accused Overstock of using a forged invoice in an effort to prove to customers that the items on its site were legitimate Tiffany products. Included in the complaint was an e-mail that Patrick Byrne, Overstock.com's chairman and president, sent customers who had purchased the "Tiffany Sterling Silver Heart Pendant" assuring them of its legitimacy.

According to Byrne's e-mail, Overstock sold several thousand pendants in a matter of days. However, some of those customers then took the pendants to Tiffany stores and were informed the products were counterfeit."We conducted a secondary investigation into the lineage of these pendants, confirming Tiffany as the source," said Byrne in the letter, going on to provide a Web link to an alleged invoice from Tiffany."Why might an employee of any store disclaim our product, if it were genuine? I am not commenting on any particular company's practices when I say: It is Tiffany Bracelet sale in this industry," said Byrne.Byrne also addressed complaints about imperfections some customers had noticed in the pendants, saying that due to the high volume of product being shipped it was "not unusual" that items were damaged. However, customer complaints prompted the company to take another look at the items. "Because of these letters we reinspected the inventory and noticed that some of the pendants have small cosmetic blemishes that might be unacceptable to some customers, whereas some (such as myself) would probably not notice them," said Byrne.Overstock.com received a cease and desist letter from Tiffany's legal representative with Dorsey & Whitney LLP on Oct. 7, 2003. Jonathan E. Johnson, Overstock's lawyer, responded in a letter dated Oct. 10, assuring Tiffany's lawyer that "Overstock.com's confidential source has repeatedly assured Overstock.com that the pendant was a genuine Tiffany product." The letter also made reference to Overstock's "second investigation into the lineage of the pendant," confirming Tiffany as the producer.