eBay squared off against Louis Vuitton Malletier in a Paris courtroom again, this time over Google Adwords advertising. The Paris District Court found eBay liable for harming the reputation of Louis Vuitton Malletier's trademarks, company name and domain name and has ordered eBay to stop using violating keywords. According to a press release by the European designer, the Court ordered eBay to pay 200,000 Euros in damages, 30,000 Euros to reimburse the legal costs incurred by Louis Vuitton Malletier, and would impose penalties of 1,000 Euros per future violation.

eBay issued the following statement in response to the ruling:

"Though disappointed by the decision given today by the Paris Court in the case opposing eBay to Louis Vuitton Malletier, we are satisfied that the court recognized eBay's submission and rebuked Louis Vuitton Malletier request for EUR1.2 million in damages, instead awarding EUR200,000.

"However, the decision flies in the face of the legal victory by eBay on appeal in Belgium (11th February 2009) in a similar action opposing eBay to Ralph Lauren. We await with anticipation for the European Court of Justice to rule on March 23rd 2010 on adwords related issues in the three Google cases referred to it."