As noted in this blog earlier this year, eBay has found itself in a bit of hot water because of their refusal to actively police its site to prevent the listing of counterfeit items. In the past, Tiffany has sued eBay for refusing to take satisfactory action against these miscreant sellers.
Now, LVMH is taking similar action against eBay for essentially the same reason. In an interesting quote from the article:
LVMH says in its lawsuit that of 300,000 Dior-branded items and 150,000
Vuitton bags offered on eBay during the first six months of this year, 90% were
fakes. LVMH declined to comment on the eBay suit.
Hani Durzy, a spokesman for eBay told Business Week that eBay is "disappointed that it has come to this" and that the suit is "without merit". Blah, blah, blah, blah. Basically, it was anything you'd expect to hear out of the mouth of a PR guy from a company who just got sued.
As with the Tiffany case, it should be interesting to see where this one ends up (settled or otherwise). It's worth noting that in the past, eBay got out of this sticky mess by simply agreeing to remove infringing items when they are notified of their existence on its site. However, owing to the fact that this particular brand has identified 405,000 fakes (so far) this year, I think the court system may take more drastic measures this time around.
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