A joint statement released by eBay and the perfume maker says: "eBay and LVMH announced a cooperative effort to protect intellectual property rights and combat counterfeits in online commerce.”
“Thanks to the cooperation measures put in place, the companies have settled ongoing litigation."
Counterfeit
The legal battle over the sale of fake products on the online auction site began back in 2008 and a French court ordered eBay to pay LVMH €38.6 million.
An appeals court lowered the fine though eBay still balked at the amount and the overall charges. Then, in 2010, a Paris court ruled against eBay in yet another lawsuit that charged the company with using keywords on its site that hurt the Louis Vuitton brand.
Along with some of its fashion brands, the accusations also related to the powerhouse’s Dior perfumes and cosmetics, with the French firm claiming it was damaging the brand image.
In its defense, eBay insisted that it spends a great deal of time and money trying to clamp down on the sale of counterfeit items, and has only just come off the back of settling with another cosmetics giant, L’Oréal, at the start of the year.
Settlement
No specific details of the settlement were revealed, nor did the companies explain how they plan to work together.
The joint statement only says that a cooperative effort to protect intellectual property rights and combat counterfeits in online commerce will commence between the two parties; and this is what has settled the ongoing litigation.
Michael Jacobson, Senior Vice-President and General Counsel at eBay, and Pierre Godé, Vice-President at LVMH, said: “Thanks to our joint efforts, consumers will enjoy a safer digital environment globally.”
Similar case
Back in January this year, L’Oréal and eBay finally decided to bury the hatchet and work together to eliminate sales of counterfeit products as well.
The cosmetics maker originally took the online seller to court in Europe accusing it of being involved in trade mark infringements committed by users of its website.
Now the two have settled their differences vowing to work together, in a deal similar to the one struck this week with LVMH.