LVMH Wins Latest Battle Against Ebay
By: Ainsley Brown
EBay was fined yesterday €1.7 million by the Paris Commercial for violating an injunction prohibiting the sale of LVMH products on the online auction site.
The injunction was imposed on eBay last year after it was taking to court by LVMH for allowing the sale of its products on its site. LVMH, the world’s largest luxury good group, with such brands as Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Moet Hennessy, and Givenchy, to name a few, had exclusive sales and marketing contacts with specialist retailers. In an effort to protect its brands, including of course its exclusive sales arrangements LVMH – and other luxury band companies such as L’Oreal – has taken aggressive steps against eBay and others.
These legal battles are not just simply about LVMH or L’Oreal wanting to prevent counterfeits of their brand entering the market, though this is part of the story. No! It is also, if not more about brand management – who has the right to develop, market, sell and ultimately who right to profit from such efforts. All of this, it must not be forgotten, is being done in the context of the era of globalization and the internet.
