eBay has been fined by the Paris Commercial Court for the unlawful marketing on its site of Christian Dior, Kenzo, Givenchy and Guerlain perfumes, according to a statement issued by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton on Monday. "Through today's judgement, the Court has stated that unlawful adverts using the brand names Christian Dior, Kenzo, Givenchy or Guerlain have continued to be posted on the eBay site. The Tribunal has therefore ordered eBay to pay penalties amounting to Euros 1,700,000." The company purports that "selective distribution ensures the security and quality of products for consumers. It generates numerous jobs and contributes to the ongoing worldwide success of European luxury goods brands."

eBay issued a response to the French court ruling. Alex von Schirmeister, General Manager of eBay in France, said, "Today's outcome hurts consumers by preventing them from buying and selling authentic items online. The injunction is an abuse of "selective distribution." It effectively enforces restrictive distribution contracts, which is anti-competitive. We believe that the higher courts will overturn this ruling and ensure that eCommerce companies such as eBay will continue to provide a platform for buyers and sellers to trade authentic goods. The fine itself is disproportionate given that eBay complied with the Injunction. It is out of step with our legal victories in France, UK, Germany, Belgium and the U.S."

eBay said that the court issued an injunction in June 2008 requiring eBay to stop French users from buying or selling authentic LVMH perfume products on any eBay site in the world. To comply with the injunction, eBay said it used state-of-the-art filtering software to check millions of daily listings, with thousands of listings of authentic items being rendered invisible and inaccessible to French eBay users. In its statement, eBay said:

In its court submission, LVMH provided detailed information on just 1,341 listings out of 200 million listings that are live on eBay every day. eBay believes that these listings were posted by people who set out to deliberately circumvent the extensive systems that had been put in place. In total, 1091 listings (81%) that LVMH reported, the seller did not accurately describe the item being sold, containing either misspelled brand names, no brand names at all, or only pictures of the product. Appeals hearings in relation to this injunction and two related LVMH cases are scheduled for May 2010.