RSSFake Vuittons cost eBay real money
By Michael Hatamoto | Published July 1, 2008, 3:36 PM
Online auction service eBay has been ordered by a French court to pay $63 million to French fashion company Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), the company responsible for making Louis Vuitton and Dior branded handbags and perfume.
A two-pronged legal attack saw LVMH accuse eBay of "guilty negligence" claiming it didn't do enough to stop fake LVMH merchandise from being sold through the site. And any sale whatsoever of LVMH-branded perfume, fake or not, was considered illicit by LVMH since only approved distribution networks are allowed to sell the perfume to customers.
The San Jose-based auction site said LVMH filed the lawsuit out of spite, since the middleman is cut out of the deal when people buy LVMH products through eBay.
LVMH reportedly discovered up to 90 percent of all Louis Vuitton and Dior watches, handbags and perfumes sold through eBay were counterfeit. Although it's very difficult to police possible counterfeit items, this independent reviewer's warning indicates the service and its customers were both aware of the existence of counterfeit sales.
Companies have requested eBay stop selling their products -- even legitimate ones -- over possible trademark infringement, as well as the service's perceived slow pace in reporting fraudulent transactions.
"Today's ruling is about an attempt by LVMH to protect uncompetitive commercial practices at the expense of consumer choice and the livelihood of law-abiding sellers that eBay empowers every day," eBay said in a statement. "We will fight this ruling on their behalf."
The service previously stated has a team of 2,000 employees worldwide working in a $20 million annual operation to crack down on the sale of counterfeit goods through the site.
Elsewhere in France, eBay has faced similar legal issues, with Hermes International receiving 20,000 euro after the auction site did not stop the sale of fake handbags. In US courts, the jewelry maker Tiffany has a multi-million dollar pending legal suit against eBay over claims that shoppers are purchasing counterfeit Tiffany jewelry. Merchandisers claim the sale of counterfeit items cost them as much as $30 billion per year.
So I cant sell my Gucci Shoes on Ebay now if I dont want them? WTF
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|**** the French and everything that comes out of that unshaven arm pit of a country.
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|That was one of the most elegant posts ever made here...
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|I wouldn't speak if I were you, especially if you're american ;)
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|This is pure racism.
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|Maybe PayPal should be responsible too, for lettings these sellers conduct transactions of the counterfeit goods. Skype would also be responsible because it allows some sellers and buyers to contact each other to discuss the sale of the counterfeit goods. Heck, UPS/FedEx/DHL/USPS should be responsible for shipping these counterfeit goods.
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|the designers won because it was in france. however, i don't think they would have won if it were in the u.s.
ebay is no different than a newspaper ad or craigs list and the authorities go after the sellers.
seemingly the designers ego is way over the clouds because they don't have any right preventing anyone from selling personal property on ebay, designer or not.
anyone want to buy an original Vuitton for 4 bucks?
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|"...Although it's very difficult to police possible counterfeit items..."
That's probably because they're made in the same slave shop as the real bags and probably use the same cheap vinyl, etc. The counterfeiters just don't mark up the products as much.
Should it be on eBay to check everything that's sold?
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|You guys don't get it do you?
They go after the party with the 'deep pockets'.
What's the practical benefit of finding a party with little to no assets liable in a property damages case? ...A Pyrrhic victory at best...
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|I get that. What I dont get is how the retarded court system awards these companies all this money when they have done nothing to combat this crap.
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|This has a good and bad!
Good: That eBay is actually held responsible for something for once.
Bad: No matter the outcome, "ePay" will pass this cost onto the Sellers, couple that with already increased selling costs and taking away the Sellers ability to leave Neg. Feedback on Bogus Buyers, it will all come to be another Kick in the Teeth to sellers.
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|And you failed to explain as to why eBay should be fully responsible for this.
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|I am not saying eBay is 100% Responsible, the lister has some as well.
Bottom line: eBay took a fee to list an item, you take money for anything in this world, you need to stand behind it as a Seller, Advertiser or Distributor.
eBay is a Buyers / Sellers beware network. It relies on Honesty between both. If their listing were a "FREE" service, then that's different.
Have you (dvferret) ever sold on eBay?
If you want to sell your old $20 Video Game eBay FORCES you to put in all details including Product / Barcode, you try to skip that, it won't allow you to list the item, yet on a $1200 Purse (Which I personally think is a rip) they don't make that product go through the same course of listing???
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|"I am not saying eBay is 100% Responsible, the lister has some as well."
Thats all I wanted to hear!
And Ive sold stuff on eBay before. Last time I sold something on eBay, which was quiet awhile ago, I didn't recall them forcing you to do that, but times do change.
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|And this is eBay's fault how? A site can only do so much to search and remove couterfeit merchandise auctions. Which is also why they rely of user help as well to submit reports of items that are against ebay policy.
On that note what has LVMH done to bring up the issue with eBay before filing this suit? Have they actually reported to them specific auctions, have they informed ebay of what they constitute as a legit seller?
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|Agreed. Im sure eBay did their part while LVMH sat around doing nothing to stop these auctions.
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|eBays current ability to search an auction listing is VERY high Tech now. Even @ the listing console, it can detect forbidden words / phrases that eBay does not allow in an auction (Including Flash based) to detecting if your item Photo's are to large (Per their rules).
Here do this, try to list an item in the "Everything Else" category and put the word: "PayPal" in there... see what happens!
eBays ability to search listing is far more then most would think.
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|If eBay is not even aware that a specific item, such as LVMH for instance, being sold is infringing the system is useless. Plus if the items are counterfeit, no way your going to know until the user recieves it. By then, in most cases, it's already too late. All a seller has to do is avoid the forbidden words or phrases that the system looks for and the auction will end long before they find it, unless a user points it out to them sooner. Any idiot can resize an image to avoid the large photo requirement.
The system is not perfect. The point is that there is no fool proof way to remove ALL infringing auctions, especially in a timely manner every time.
Is eBay responsible? Depends on what LVHM did BEFORE they filed suit.
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|Im sorry but that is ridiculous. Maybe eBay could do a little more but I think these companies are taking advantage of eBay.
Patent infringement my a$$.
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