Paraiba.com has taken up a case of forgery against GIA, AGTA and an African tourmaline seller, alleging that they sold non-Brazilian stones as "Paraiba tourmaline". Paraiba.com is a producer of the rare, Windex-blue gemstones. It has accused: the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA), members of AGTA's board of directors, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and gem company Brazil Imports of Fallbrook, California. It has filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in the Superior Court of the State of California, Santa Cruz, California, with its owner, David Sherman, accusing the parties of ‘intentional interference for prospective business advantage’ Paraiba.com demands $20 million in general damages for lost sales and $100 million in punitive damages.

Paraiba.com produces the Paraiba tourmalines from the Sao Jose de Batalha area of Brazil in the Paraiba province. The mines produce a type of copper-bearing elbaite in blue-green colour known as Paraiba tourmaline, valued at $22,000 to $30,000 per carat. The stone carried the value purely on the reference of its place of origin, as sated in the suit. As there were other copper-bearing tourmaline from Mozambique and Nigeria entering the market in blue-green colours, easily comparable to the Paraiba tourmalines, the Laboratory Manual Harmonization Committee issued a ruling on identifying the original tourmalines.

The ruling stated that copper-bearing tourmalines of colour comparable to that of Paraiba tourmaline could be called Paraiba on laboratory grading reports, but the reports would have to note that the name is not an origin determination, and that the type of stones originally found in Brazil are now found in other parts of the world. Whereas the suit says that AGTA, Brazil Imports and other defendants were acting in their own interest by declaring the stones. The Brazilian stones have 2 to 3 percent copper concentration; the African stones have only trace amounts of copper, in rare cases, copper content of approximately 1 percent. Also, the stones do not have the same innate luminescence that so characterises the Paraiba stone.