L’Oréal -v- eBay
This article was included in our Winter 2009/10 edition of Inside IP.
eBay has won an infringement action brought against it in the UK by cosmetics company, and owner of brands Lancôme and Yves Saint Laurent Beaute, L’Oréal. The action concerned the internet auction site’s handling of counterfeit products and the methods it uses to combat fake products. L’Oréal claimed eBay was jointly liable for trade mark infringements committed by its users.
In a similar case in France just weeks ago, the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris found eBay had acted in good faith by establishing means to fight counterfeits on its site. The companies have now been ordered to go to meditation following the French decision in which Judge Elisabeth Belfort stated “Preventing counterfeits will only be effective through a close collaboration between rights holders and eBay”.
This victory for eBay follows similar cases in a French court in which it was not successful and was ordered to pay compensation to Hermes International and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA. However the internet site has been successful in the US and Belgium and believes the latest UK decision is important in ensuring consumers can continue to buy genuine goods at competitive prices.
eBay reportedly spends US$10 million a year fighting crime including counterfeiters and says that fewer than 0.2% of the 2.7 billion listings on their site last year were identified as potentially counterfeit.