eBay convicted of selling counterfeit Hermes goods
Online auction giant eBay was convicted Wednesday of selling counterfeit goods and ordered to pay 20,000 euros (30,000 dollars) in damages to French luxury group Hermes, Hermes’ lawyer said.
eBay was convicted on basis of these arguments by Hermes’ attorneys:
- eBay was more than a mere host for the counterfeit items.
- eBay is an active player in the transaction because not only does it offer a number of services to improve the sale, but when it does not work well enough or fast enough, they intervene with the client.
- They are perfectly informed of the transactions since they take a percentage cut.
This appears to be a landmark case since for the first time, eBay was found guilty of complicity in aiding in sales of counterfeit goods and eBay’s usual argument “We are just a venue” was thrown out of the window.
It is perfectly possible that Hermes sought such a low punitive damages so it would be easy
to win this lawsuit and then this ruling can be used as a precedent ruling in other cases pending vs. EBAY.
Luxury fashion houses Louis Vuitton and Dior Couture have also taken legal action against eBay before the Paris commercial court, respectively seeking 20 million and 17 million euros in damages.
Both brands accuse eBay of complicity in the sale of counterfeit goods by allowing buyers and sellers to transact without imposing any controls.
Also in France, the auction industry took legal action against the online giant last December, accusing it of encouraging trade in pirated and stolen goods.
And in a potentially major case, the cosmetics giant L’Oreal last September launched legal action against eBay in five European countries including France, over the sale of bottles of counterfeit perfume.
It’s good to see that European courts are taking tough stance on eBay’s lax approach to crime on their site. eBay consistently denies there are any serious problems with fakes, fraud, scams, hijackings, account security breaches, etc. on it’s site…. while we and other eBay security watchdogs prove this otherwise.
It’s a shame eBay is not interested in cleaning up it’s site and prefers hiding the massive amount of fraud and scams, so trademark owners have to resort to suing eBay. We have pointed out many times that eBay is not genuinely interested in eliminating sales of fake goods on it’s site because eBay is too happy to take it’s commission on whatever is sold on eBay, be it counterfeit, stolen or simply non-existing merchandise.
eBay Shares lost 5.81% down from $31.58 on April 9, 2008 date of Hermes lawsuit initiation, EBAY shares closed at $29.28 on May 30th.