A French court on Monday ordered eBay, the online auction giant, to pay €38.6 million in damages to LVMH, the French luxury goods company, in the latest round in a long-running legal battle over the sale of counterfeit goods on the Internet.LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, a manufacturer of high-end leather goods, perfumes and other fashion and luxury products, successfully challenged eBay for a second time in the French court, arguing that 90 percent of Louis Vuitton bags and Dior perfumes sold on eBay are fakes.
The court ruled that eBay, based in the United States, was not doing enough to stamp out counterfeit sales.
“It’s a groundbreaking decision that will help protect creativity,” Pierre Godé, a member of LVMH’s supervisory board and an adviser to the chairman, Bernard Arnault, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg News. “It’s an important precedent.”
EBay vowed to appeal the ruling.
“When counterfeits appear on our site we take them down swiftly, and today’s ruling is not about our fight against counterfeiting,[...] lire la suite