eBay fined €1.7m for perfume sale

EBAY has been fined €1.7m by a Paris court for selling brand-name perfumes without the manufacturer's consent.

The ruling in favour of the Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH) group comes after the online auction giant was fined €38m fine in June last year for selling counterfeit perfumes on the site.

The court issued an injunction at the time banning the popular auction site from selling any LVMH goods, which includes major brands such as Christian Dior, Kenzo and Givenchy.

The Paris tribunal de commerce ruled yesterday that eBay was not doing enough to enforce this ban. LVMH said it had a right to choose where its goods are sold.

eBay said the ruling was "completely disproportionate" and it had done all it could to introduce measures preventing people listing LVMH goods.

"France is the only country served by eBay where a user does not have the right to sell a product that they legally own," the company said.

In June last year, eBay was ordered to pay €20,000 in a case which involved a seller registered with the site selling fake Hermès bags.