French court fines eBay 1.7 mln euros on LVMH sale

A French commercial court on Monday fined the world leading online auctioneer eBay 1.7 million euros (2.55 million U.S. dollars) for charge of violating an injunction banning sales of LVMH products.

The court in Paris has ordered eBay to remove all perfumes of LVMH on the site in June 2008, and accused Monday that the most-visited American e-commerce site hasn't do enough to restraint its users from selling counterfeiting brands.

Since last year when Hermes International and LVMH won their suits against eBay, the e-commerce web site has blocked French users from selling products of these brands on France and UK websites.

EBay has decided to appeal the verdict. Alex Von Schiermeister, director of eBay's French branch, claimed the fine "disproportionate in respect to the steps eBay has taken since the injunction."

LVMH called the fine order an important step in fighting against illegal practise, the company said in a statement.

The appeal suit will be heard in May 2010, local media reported.

Source: Xinhua