eBay fined €1.7 million by French court for sales of LVMH products
01 Dec 2009
A French commercial court fined online auction giant eBay Inc €1.7 million ($2.6 million) for failing to comply with a 2008 injunction to stop sales of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA perfumes on its French Web site.
eBay was fined yesterday by the Paris Commercial Court for the unlawful marketing on its site of Christian Dior, Kenzo, Givenchy and Guerlain perfumes in the latest round in a long-running legal battle over the sale of counterfeit goods on the Internet.
This judgment follows the ruling against eBay by the Paris Commercial Court on 30 June 2008 which found eBay guilty of serious neglect of its obligation to respect selective distribution networks. (See: French court imposes $61 million damages on eBay for selling counterfeit goods)
The French court had then ordered eBay to pay a total of €38.6 million in damages to the French luxury goods company LVMH, with €19.28 million to be paid to Louis Vuitton Malletier and €16.3 million to Christian Dior Couture as damages for the sale of counterfeit products.
In addition, eBay was told to pay €3.25 million to four perfume brands - Christian Dior, Kenzo, Givenchy and Guerlain - for infringing on a selective distribution network. All these six brands are part of the LVMH group.
Further to payment of €1.7 million, the Court ordered eBay yesterday to discontinue its illegal practices.