eBay wins right to not police counterfeit goods

A court in Belgium has thrown out a complaint by L'Oreal that eBay was not doing enough to combat sales of fake versions of the cosmetics giant's products on its site.

The court ruled that eBay did not need to take proactive action to stop such auctions, although eBay was keen to say it does take down such auctions when notified by rights holders.

The online tat bazaar is involved in several court cases with various luxury brands. Tiffany recently lost a similar case in the US, but has vowed to appeal the verdict.

But handbag peddler Hermes won its case against eBay, along with a €20,000 fine.

In June eBay was told to pay £30.6m (€38.8m) in damages to handbag flogger LVMH on two separate grounds - sales of fake items and "unauthorised sales" of perfume - better known as grey importing - sales of products in a different country to that specified by the manufacturer.

Last month eBay met with various luxury brands in London to try and find a way to end the row.

L'Oreal was suing eBay in five countries, accusing it of not doing enough to combat sales of counterfeit L'Oreal products.

The make-up maker said it was surprised at the decision and would appeal. ®