Score One for the Brand Owners
Score one for the brand owners. Their profits and brand cachet besieged by the world-wide counterfeiting epidemic, luxury brand owners have long complained that eBay, the world's premier consumer goods auction site, has not taken adequate measures to keep counterfeit goods off its site. LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton did more than complain, however. It filed suit against eBay in France alleging that eBay was complicit in the sale of millions of dollars worth of fake goods bearing its brand names LOUIS VUITTON and CHRISTIAN DIOR, among others. The court sided with Louis Vuitton, and in a decision issued June 30, 2008, ordered eBay to pay 39.9 million Euro to LMVH in damages and to implement improved procedures for keeping counterfeits off its site.
In the wake of this ruling, brand owners with "eBay problems," may want to explore the possibility of bringing suit against eBay in France. France is a particularly appealing venue because the only U.S. federal court to address the issue recently held that eBay was not liable to Tiffany & Co. for the sale of counterfeit TIFFANY merchandise on its website.
Read more about this ruling at The Wall Street Journal website.
For questions regarding counterfeitting issues, please contact:
Andrea Anderson
303-473-2861
aanderson@hollandhart.com
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