Article: eBay and Louis Vuitton End Legal Battle over Counterfeiting Claims

uadjit

uadjit

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Jul 21, 2011
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eBay and Louis Vuitton End Legal Battle over Counterfeiting Claims
By Ina Steiner
EcommerceBytes.com
July 21, 2014

In 2008, the public relations teams of eBay and Louis Vuitton's parent LVMH sparred over a French court ruling over counterfeits and intellectual property rights. But last week, they came together and issued a joint statement announcing the two had settled their ongoing litigation.

Six years ago, the commercial court in Paris upheld a claim made by Louis Vuitton Malletier and Christian Dior Couture against eBay that required eBay to pay almost 40 million euros to LVMH for "negligence" and "illicit sales" over the sale of counterfeit goods on its marketplace.

Following that ruling, the companies immediately issued dueling press releases - French luxury brand LVMH said eBay was guilty of gross misconduct, while eBay said LVMH was attempting to protect uncompetitive commercial practices.

On Thursday, the two companies put the harsh words behind them, keeping it short and sweet in announcing the settlement:

eBay and LVMH today announced a cooperative effort to protect intellectual property rights and combat counterfeits in online commerce. Thanks to the cooperation measures put in place, the companies have settled ongoing litigation.

Michael Jacobson, Senior Vice-President and General Counsel at eBay, and Pierre Gode, Vice- President at LVMH, said: "Thanks to our joint efforts, consumers will enjoy a safer digital environment globally."

eBay has been cozying up to brands and manufacturers as part of its strategy to differentiate itself from ecommerce giant Amazon.com.

About the author:
Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to [email protected].
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Link to article: http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y14/m07/i21/s01

I'm not exactly sure they mean by "Thanks to our joint efforts, consumers will enjoy a safer digital environment globally." but I'm sure we're going to find out.
 
#3
bag-princess said:
i was just about to say - what the hell does that mean????:shucks:
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It sounds a bit too grandiose. When I think of a "safer digital environment" I think of an Internet without child predators and identity thieves. Sure, fewer fake bags would be nice but let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

It sounds like they're planning some kind of joint agreement to "police" counterfeits. That could be good but it could also be really bad. I guess we just have to wait and find out.
 
#5
Well, that was totally unhelpful...I assume it doesn't just apply to France, given the "global" reference. And I assume it just applies to LVMH lines, but what about everything else? It sounds like they will agree on when responsibility shifts to a LVMH VERO rep. I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear that this means more LVMH bags being taken down, whether it is justified or not.

Will be interesting to see what, if anything, changes.
 
#6
uadjit said:
It sounds a bit too grandiose. When I think of a "safer digital environment" I think of an Internet without child predators and identity thieves. Sure, fewer fake bags would be nice but let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

It sounds like they're planning some kind of joint agreement to "police" counterfeits. That could be good but it could also be really bad. I guess we just have to wait and find out.
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+1 :tup:
 
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