A Paris court on Monday ordered Internet auctioneer eBay to pay $63 million in damages to Louis Vuitton for selling fake luxury goods online, according to reports. The court also barred eBay from selling four perfume brands -- Christian Dior, Kenzo, Givenchy and Guerlain, AFP reported. eBay, the world's largest online auctioneer, said it would lodge an appeal and said the decision was not a victory for copyright law.
According to eBay, the decision "is not based on combating counterfeit material" but rather, it is "based on LVMH's desire to protect its commercial practices and exclude competition". eBay was ordered to pay $30.40 million to LVMH and $25.7 to its sister company Christian Dior Couture for damage to their brand images and causing moral harm. LVMH told AFP the decision was a major coup against illegal Internet sales. The court barred eBay from running ads for the perfume and cosmetic brands or it would face a fine of $79,000 per day. The full text of the decision is to be posted on the eBay sites in English and French within the next three weeks, the court ordered. The ruling came amid a flurry of legal action against the online giant, which claims to have some 84 million active users in 39 markets worldwide. Three weeks ago, eBay was convicted by a French court of selling counterfeit goods and ordered to pay 20,000 euros in damages to French luxury group Hermes. That court ruling, which marked a first in France, found eBay directly responsible for the sale on its website of three Hermes bags including two fakes, for a total of 3,000 euros. [End of report]
In my opinion, I think the decision to fine eBay was fully justified. I have always been strongly against buying or selling counterfeit materials whether it is being done online or not because I think that such irresponsible action is just wrong. Let's take the case of Louis Vuitton for example. They are one of the leading design company in the world and their products are very expensive because they have put a lot of emphasis in areas such as the research and development so that they can deliver the best quality products to its customers, thats why it is expensive. That is why I thing it is wrong for someone to auction or purchase counterfeit materials on eBay and sell it at a much lower or sometimes at a higher than the actual retail price. They are stealing away the business and its customers and they are stealing away the money that they don't deserve at all. At the same time, I don't understand why there are people who are willing to buy this counterfeit materials when they know that it is in fact counterfeited. I rather pay good money for the real materials than a few bucks for a counterfeit material because I know the latter won't give the same services or last longer than the former. You must also remember that by buying counterfeit material, you are also co-operating with the criminals who only cares about making huge profit for themselves without working for it.
I disagree with eBay's argument that the decision to fine them was based on LVMH's desire to protect it's commercial practices and exclude competition. Big name companies like Louis Vuitton thrives of competition, that is why they are continuously producing products that are better from the others but when they see their hard work not gaining any profits due to irresponsible acts like auctioning counterfeit material on places like eBay, then they have every reason to be angry. When they know that there are people out there who are creating products and using their brand to selflessly promote their self interest, they have every reason to be angry. So I think the decision is definitely a big coup against illegal sales on the Internet. More needs to be done however to completely stop the illegal sales on the Internet. I do think that the people who are auctioning their illegal stuff on the Internet should be held responsible as well. Yes, eBay has the right to prevent any products from being auction but I think Internet users should know better what to sell and what not to sell. Therefore, I hope to see more improvement in the selling process on the Internet in the future.
This decision is a victory for all I think, especially for the creative industry in the fight against copyright infringement. I hope that this will be a lesson for any eBay user or any other online auction website. If you want to buy anything, remember that the quality is more important than the quantity. If you stop the buying, the selling of counterfeit materials can too.
*The report was taken from CNN.
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