Wire Services AP and Reuters report that French cosmetics firm L'Oreal has taken legal action against eBay in five European countries. According to the reports, L'Oreal alleges that eBay allows the sale of counterfeit cosmetics and perfumes through its website.

The AP reported that an eBay France spokesperson said that negotiations between the two companies failed because eBay found L'Oreal's requests unreasonable, but that talks were ongoing.

eBay has been sued by designer firms in the past over the issue of counterfeit sales, including Rolex, Tiffany, Louis Vuitton (LVMH) and Christian Dior Couture. Last November, it rolled out a major initiative to fight counterfeits on its site (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m11/i29/s01).

Associated press article on Google:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jlAGYYmd_tfe5yxE-bjLkS65SuAQ

Reuters article in Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/10/AR2007091000517.html