French fine eBay £1.5m over ban on perfume sales

Dec 1 2009 By The Journal

ONLINE auctioneer eBay has been fined £1.5m by a Parisian court which ruled that it had not kept to an injunction banning users from selling on LVMH perfumes.

eBay users in France are blocked from selling certain branded perfumes – including Christian Dior, Givenchy and Kenzo – on the site.

eBay said the injunction hurt consumers and called it an abuse of "selective distribution".

Alex Von Schiermeister, director of eBay Europe, 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 e-commerce companies such as eBay will continue to provide a platform for buyers and sellers to trade authentic goods."

He said the fine was "disproportionate given that eBay complied with the injunction".

eBay users in France are being blocked from selling on the LVMH products, even if they are genuine and unused.

LVMH has previously accused eBay of brand counterfeiting and of using some of the keywords of LVMH brands in its adverts.

It said that sales on the site violated Christian Dior’s distribution network, which only allowed sales through specialist dealers.

In the UK, 150,000 perfumes in the top 20 brands were sold on eBay in the 12 months to September.