EBay Loses Big French Lawsuit
Big news in the lawsuit between Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) and eBay. Today in Paris, a French court ruled that eBay was responsible for counterfeit items sold on the site and for selling genuine products outside of authorized channels. The court ordered eBay to pay around 40 million euros, which works out to approximately. $63.2 million. Louis Vuitton was awarded 19.3 million euros, Christian Dior Couture will get 17.4 million euros and Parfums Christian Dior, Parfums Kenzo, Guerlain and Parfums Givenchy is to receive around 3 million euros. The auction website has also been ordered to stop selling fragrances and cosmetics from those brands immediately, or face more fines.
EBay has already said they will appeal the ruling. The case is just one of several against eBay. The company recently lost a battle with Hermes over counterfeit bags. EBay maintains that they remove counterfeit items from the site when they are made aware of them but the brands believe eBay doesn't do a good enough job in policing sellers. EBay has asserted that they are a host in the selling process and therefore not responsible but a statement from LVMH counters that saying that eBay is not a host but is instead a broker for these goods and therefore responsible not just for counterfeits but for the all the branded goods that are sold through eBay. If eBay decides to crack down on sellers this could have a tremendous impact on the way the site, and its users, do business.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
willzville Jun 30th 2008 11:33PM
Finally. I remember on ebay about 1 in 100 LV bags were actually real. I think $62 Mill sounds like a reasonable penalty, but the 20K hermes got was so little.
I hope more brand sue ebay, since its now the largest blackmarket for fake goods in the world.
willzville Jun 30th 2008 11:33PM
Finally. I remember on ebay about 1 in 100 LV bags were actually real. I think $62 Mill sounds like a reasonable penalty, but the 20K hermes got was so little.
I hope more brands sue ebay, since its now the largest blackmarket for fake goods in the world.
Susan Shockley Jul 1st 2008 11:56AM
It's about time someone sued Ebay. They have been totally untouchable for too long, giving their customers nowhere to go if they have a problem, no one to complain to. Oh, sure they have dispute departments where you talk to a seller or buyer that has "done you wrong", but where do you go when EBAY has "done you wrong". Louis Vuitton has been a thorn in their side for years....here, here for Louis!
Butterboom Jul 2nd 2008 5:16AM
That hasn't stopped much in Hong Kong. Still alot of LV bags on the Ebay.com.hk site and will probably be more. Buyers are already weary, and its mostly local HKers selling outside of HK.
More at http://www.butterboom.com/2008/07/02/ebay-owes-louis-vuitton-63-million/
juniorsfarm Jul 5th 2008 9:12PM
As a ebayer seller , I pray ebay loses again , they have new rules , that leave no options for sellers , except leaving positive for bad deals , buyers can pay or no pay , nothing can be done , now i understand what is up , there just trying to candy - coat this , have the court think there trying to do something when they really just don,t care about anybody , buyers or sellers , just money , may we pray craigslist also wins there lawsuit , yes , there suing ebay also , tell everybody ,,, I,m starting too-day , viva la france ... junior
Steve Jul 10th 2008 3:16PM
Its been obvious that Ebay policies take care of Ebay and no one else. Ebay will suspend you immediately for not paying their fees, or voiceing comments about the bad policies. You can foget if they care about the buyer or honest sellers. This proves Scamming sellers, and sellers of counterfeit have Ebay as a partner since they collect fees from each sale and on the payment through Paypal.
chloe Jul 16th 2008 12:12AM
WHY SHOULD EBAY BE THE COPYRIGHT POLICE FOR LV ? LV PRODUCTS ARE MADE IN CHINA. THAT IS RIGHT , THIS COMPANY USES CHEAP CHINESE LABOR FROM POOR PEOPLE TO MAKE THERE OVERPRICED BAGS. THE CONSUMER WILL PAY THE PRICE, NOT EBAY. THAT MEANS EBAYS SELLERS FEES WILL INCREASE AND SO WILL THE PRICE OF GODS SOLD SITEWIDE. WHY SHOULD AN ENTIRE SITE SUFFER BECAUSE LV IS TOO CHEAP TO HIRE ABOUT 10 MORE EMPLOYEES A DAY TO POLICE EBAYS SITE THEIRSELVES. IF I BUY A LV BAG , I SHOULD HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO SELL THE BAG AUCTION STYLE WHENEVER I PLEASE. ONCE AGAIN LV HAS PROVED WHAT A BUNCH OF SELFISH SCUM THEY REALLY ARE. THE FAKES ARE PRODUCED IN CHINA, WHY NOT SUE THE CHINESE ? OH YEA, THERE FACTORY IS IN CHINA, A BIT OF BULL----, DON'T YOU THINK. ALL OFF THESE OVERPRICED BRANDS SHOULD BE THEIR OWN COPYRIGHT POLICE, AND THE US GOVERNMENT SHOULD TAX EVERY BAG LV IMPORTS INTO THIS COUNTRY 1K EACH. BUY AMERICAN MADE..
the_truth Sep 24th 2008 12:59PM
chloe you are SO right, eBay is only a venue and NOT product specialists. LVMH and Hermes are lazy, money-grabbers. eBay does try to protect both the rights owner and buyers. eBay does take action on items reported to them that infringe upon the rights owner's patented works or products under the VERO program.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/vero-rights-owner.html
Also, as you can see from the link of rights owners that do report to eBay, LVMH and Hermes as the lazy, money-grabbers that they are, are NOT on the list:
http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/vero-aboutme.html