14 DAY TRIAL // The UK High Court has ruled in the favor of eBay in their case against L'Oreal. The court decided that the online auction site couldn't be held legally responsible for the sale of counterfeit L'Oreal products and that it wasn't in the position to verify if the items sold were legitimate. The French cosmetics company first threatened to block the sales of any of its products on eBay if they didn't stop the counterfeit goods from being sold and then proceeded to sue the site in several European countries.
Counterfeit products are of course illegal but because eBay is merely a facilitator for the sales it cannot be held responsible for what its users are selling was the court’s decision. The judge added, however, that eBay could do more to prevent counterfeit products from being sold on their site.
"This is an important judgment because it ensures that consumers can continue to buy genuine products at competitive prices on eBay," said Richard Ambrose, eBay's head of trust and safety. "We reiterate again that co-operation and dialogue is what is needed, not litigation. Only by working together can we collectively address the issues that concern eBay, rights owner and consumers."
Luxury goods manufacturers have not been very keen on their products being sold elsewhere than in their carefully selected shops. Places like eBay lower the costs associated with selling, like the costs of shops and employees, thus lowering the price of the products. Luxury manufacturers believe that this, coupled with the bigger number of their products being sold, leads to their brands becoming less exclusive.
This is the latest ruling in a series of trials as L'Oreal took eBay to court in several European countries like Britain, Germany, France, Belgium and Spain. The cosmetics company lost the case in France with the court setting as deadline the 25th of May for the two parties to come to an agreement. It also lost the case in Belgium where it is currently appealing. The cases haven't been resolved yet in Germany and Spain.