eBay's legal woes: Handbagged: Economist

Jun 19th 2008 | PARIS
From The Economist print edition
The online auctioneer braces itself for some court decisions in France

HIGHFASHIONX, a retailer on the American website of eBay, an online auctioneer, is offering 52 handbags, belts, necklaces, rings and pairs of shoes from the house of Chanel. It also displays something even more exclusive: an apology from Chanel's lawyers. The luxury-goods firm had accused HighFashionX of selling fakes, but its wares were in fact all genuine.

The incident is part of a war between luxury-goods firms and eBay over counterfeit goods—a war that is about to intensify. On June 30th a French court will rule on a lawsuit brought against eBay in 2006 by LVMH, the world's biggest luxury-goods firm, which is demanding damages of €20m ($31m). Further rulings are expected on court cases brought against eBay by Dior Couture, a fashion house, and by L'Oréal, a cosmetics firm. For its part, eBay is launching a campaign in Brussels against firms that, it says, are stifling the development of e-commerce in Europe.

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