A French court has ordered online auction house eBay to pay LVMH damages for assisting in the sale of knock offs - while a ruling on a complaint by Tiffany in the US is expected soon. The Financial Times reports:
In spite of Ebay’s claims to have cracked down, in some markets the sale of large numbers of counterfeit luxury goods continues unabated.
After a long-running feud with some of the world’s most famous luxury brands, the moment of truth for Ebay may finally have arrived.
A French court yesterday handed down the most significant judgment to date, ordering Ebay to pay nearly €40m ($63m) to LVMH.
Meanwhile, a judge in the US is due to rule at any time on a similar case brought by Tiffany. “This gives Ebay significantly more incentive to adjust its business model to make it less advantageous for counterfeiters,” said Geoffrey Potter, a US legal expert on counterfeiting issues.
Together, those cases represent the biggest attack on Ebay’s way of doing business in the company’s 13-year history.
FT.com / Home UK / UK - Moment of truth for Ebay on fake luxury goods
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It will be very interesting to see what happens next. Here in the UK, Mamas & Papas (who make baby buggies) are talking about restricting sales of their products on eBay.
July 5th, 2008 at 5:30 pm