Court fines eBay over fake goods

A French court has ordered eBay to pay 40m euros ($63m) in damages to luxury goods group LVMH for allowing online auctions of fake copies of its goods.
LVMH had claimed the damages because it said eBay's French site had not done enough to stop the sale of counterfeit bags, perfumes and other items.
The decision comes a month after eBay was ordered to pay 20,000 euros to another French goods firm, Hermes.
The brands affected include Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Givenchy.
After the fines were announced, eBay said it would appeal against the decision.
'Illicit'
The case against eBay in a commercial court in Paris was brought jointly by six brands belonging to the LVMH group.
Louis Vuitton Malletier, the group's handbag and luggage section, and clothing brand Christian Dior Couture accused eBay of "negligence" in allowing illegal copies of their goods to be sold in online auctions.
Four perfume brands - Dior, Guerlain, Kenzo and Givenchy - sued for what they called "illicit sales" of their products.
They alleged that even auctions involving their legitimate perfumes were illegal, because only specialist dealers were permitted to sell them.
According to the judgement, eBay must pay 19.28m euros to Luis Vuitton Malletier, 17.3m to Christian Dior Couture and 3.25m to the perfume brands.
The fine is the second in a month imposed on eBay by French courts.
On 4 June, a court in the eastern French city of Troyes found the auction site directly responsible for the sale of fake Hermes bags. It imposed a fine of 20,000 euros jointly on eBay and the woman who offered the bags for sale.

Once again i love the french, stick that 40m euros right up ebay, ha, viva la france