Pundits and prognosticators are weighing in on the Paris' Tribunal de Commerce's verdict in which it ordered eBay to pay LVMH Möet Hennessy Louis Vuitton and sister company Christian Dior SA $63.1 million of damages relating to eBay's sales of counterfeit and unauthorized LVMH goods.
Law.com
New York Times
Time (with a focus on French internet provincialism in the wake of the LVMH decision and an earlier French court judgment against eBay in favor of Hermes).
Citing the unusually large damages, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog wonders whether the victory and staggering damages were a product of "home cooking," with a French court ruling for a French company (and against an American company).
Women's Wear Daily notes a less noticed aspect of the decision - a separate award of $4.7 million to LVMH for eBay's selling of brands Parfums Christian Dior, Kenzo Parfums, Guerlain and Parfums Givenchy through unauthorized distribution channels. The French court also ordered eBay to stop selling these brands or face a fine of $79,000 per day.
On the other hand, Richard Waters, writing in the Financial Times, says that focusing on the distribution channel aspect of the decision is an attempt by eBay to distract from the meat of the anti-counterfeiting holding. Waters also draws parallels between eBay's legal challenges in the trademark sphere and copyright challenges facing YouTube.
Meanwhile, BusinessWeek looks at the totality of the eBay ruling and speculates on whether it might be a precedent for the Tiffany v. eBay case currently being decided in New York. BusinessWeek also speculates on the effects of these cases on eBay's bottom line and business model.
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