French court fines eBay over sale of fake goods

Online auction king eBay was slapped with a hefty $63 million fine today, after a French court found it liable of putting on sale fake handbags, clothes, perfumes and a number luxury goods from Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Givenchy, and others.

The ruling is being hailed as an achievement against illegal sales on the Internet, but the auction giant of course thinks otherwise and is expected to appeal. In fact eBay claims they remove counterfeit goods swiftly once discovered on their site, and that today’s ruling is not based on combating such material but rather on a desire from luxury goods companies to protect uncompetitive commercial practices at the expense of consumer choice.

This is just the latest blow to the online giant which has found itself in the middle of other notable controversies lately, including a similar ruling earlier this month for the sale of fake Hermes bags and an ongoing dispute with Craigslist over unfair competition and fraudulent business claims.