eBay fined for selling counterfeit goods in France
eBay was fined $30,000 for selling counterfeit goods on its website.
Online auction giant eBay was convicted by a French court Wednesday of selling counterfeit goods and ordered to pay 20,000 euros (30,000 dollars) in damages to French luxury group Hermes.
The court ruling, which marks a first in France, found eBay directly responsible for the sale on its website of three Hermes bags including two fakes, for a total of 3,000 euros.
The US auction site was ordered to pay damages jointly with the woman who put the bags up for sale.
“By selling Hermes bags and branded accessories on the eBay.fr site, and by failing to act within their powers to prevent reprehensible use of the site,” the user and eBay “committed acts of counterfeiting and imitation of French brand names … to the detriment of Hermes international,” said the ruling.
The court also ordered eBay to publish the ruling on its French homepage for three months.
