HandbaggedThe online auctioneer bra

Handbagged
The online auctioneer braces itself for some court decisions in France


HIGHFASHIONX, a retailer on the American website of eBay, an online auctioneer, is offering 52 handbags, belts, necklaces, rings and pairs of shoes from the house of Chanel. It also displays something even more exclusive: an apology from Chanel's lawyers. The luxury-goods firm had accused HighFashionX of selling fakes, but its wares were in fact all genuine.

The incident is part of a war between luxury-goods firms and eBay over counterfeit goods-a war that is about to intensify. On June 30th a French court will rule on a lawsuit brought against eBay in 2006 by LVMH, the world's biggest luxury-goods firm, which is demanding damages of ?20m ($31m). Further rulings are expected on court cases brought against eBay by Dior Couture, a fashion house, and by L'Oréal, a cosmetics firm. For its part, eBay is launching a campaign in Brussels against firms that, it says, are stifling the development of e-commerce in Europe.

A few years ago sellers on eBay were mostly private individuals flogging second-hand goods. But now eBay is increasingly used by professional retailers selling new items. Many of them sell fakes. LVMH claims that out of 300,000 products labelled Dior and 150,000 Louis Vuitton handbags offered on eBay in the second quarter of 2006, fully 90% were fake.

"We don't make any money from sales on eBay," says Cheryl Solomon, general counsel of the Gucci Group, "but we have to tell people that their bag isn't real, that we can't help them get their money back, and we become the bad guys." A cottage industry of authenticators has sprung up around eBay and other online auction sites: MyPoupette.com, for instance, charges consumers a fee to examine online photos of handbags and other items before they submit their bids.

EBay takes a small percentage of the value of every sale on its site, as well as a flat fee, and thus earns money from counterfeits sold on its site as well as genuine items. Mindful of its reputation, eBay has stepped up its efforts to fight counterfeiting in recent years. As well as its peer-review system, which allows buyers to rate sellers, it has another scheme, "Verified Rights Owner" (VeRO), which invites brand-owners to notify it of counterfeit goods. Suspect items are then taken off eBay's websites until their provenance can be proven, usually within hours. But luxury-goods firms say VeRO is not enough. They want eBay to take more responsibility for rooting out fakes. The Union des Fabricants in Paris, an anti-counterfeiting group, wants eBay to use its database of names and postal addresses of sellers to identify and ban professional counterfeiters.

"We have 2,000 employees worldwide fighting fraud," says Alexander von Schirmeister, head of eBay in France, "and if we have to do much more, you have to wonder to what extent our business model can exist." With the support of Meglena Kuneva, European commissioner for consumer protection, and three members of the European Parliament, eBay will argue in Brussels that the internet has been unfairly portrayed by luxury-goods firms as the root cause of counterfeiting. It wants the European Commission to rewrite the rules on "selective distribution", which allow manufacturers to control how their products are sold online. The rules, written before the internet took off, are now stifling e-commerce in Europe, eBay argues.

But however much support eBay can drum up in Brussels, it is unlikely to distract attention from the forthcoming decision in LVMH's lawsuit. On June 4th eBay lost against Hermès, another French luxury-goods firm, which had sued it for selling counterfeit handbags. Now other firms are waiting to hear the results of the LVMH, Dior and L'Oréal cases against eBay, says Marc Antoine Jamet, chairman of the Union des Fabricants. If eBay loses, he says, "we will probably see many more brand-owners filing similar suits.

Resultados (Português) 1:

ComoçãoO leiloeiro on-line em si chaves para algumas decisões do tribunal na FrançaHIGHFASHIONX, um varejista no site americano da eBay, um leiloeiro on-line, está oferecendo 52 bolsas, cintos, colares, anéis e pares de sapatos da casa de Chanel. Ele também exibe algo ainda mais exclusivo: um pedido de desculpas de advogados de Chanel. A empresa de bens de luxo tinha acusado HighFashionX de vendendo falsificações, mas seus produtos foram de fato tudo genuíno.O incidente é parte de uma guerra entre empresas de bens de luxo e eBay sobre falsa mercadorias-a guerra que está prestes a se intensificar. Em 30 de junho, um tribunal francês governará sobre uma acção judicial intentada contra eBay em 2006 pela LVMH, maior empresa de bens de luxo do mundo, que está exigindo danos de? 20 milhões (US $31m). Mais decisões são esperadas em casos de tribunal trouxe contra eBay por Dior Couture, uma casa de moda e pela L'Oréal, uma empresa de cosméticos. Por seu turno, eBay está lançando uma campanha em Bruxelas contra as empresas que, diz, estão sufocando o desenvolvimento do comércio electrónico na Europa.Há alguns anos os vendedores no eBay foram principalmente particulares açoitamento de bens em segunda mão. Mas agora eBay é cada vez mais usado por profissionais varejistas vendendo itens novos. Muitos deles vendem falsificações. LVMH afirma que fora de 300.000 produtos rotulados Dior e 150.000 bolsas Louis Vuitton, oferecido no eBay no segundo trimestre de 2006, totalmente 90% eram falsas."We don't make any money from sales on eBay," says Cheryl Solomon, general counsel of the Gucci Group, "but we have to tell people that their bag isn't real, that we can't help them get their money back, and we become the bad guys." A cottage industry of authenticators has sprung up around eBay and other online auction sites: MyPoupette.com, for instance, charges consumers a fee to examine online photos of handbags and other items before they submit their bids.EBay takes a small percentage of the value of every sale on its site, as well as a flat fee, and thus earns money from counterfeits sold on its site as well as genuine items. Mindful of its reputation, eBay has stepped up its efforts to fight counterfeiting in recent years. As well as its peer-review system, which allows buyers to rate sellers, it has another scheme, "Verified Rights Owner" (VeRO), which invites brand-owners to notify it of counterfeit goods. Suspect items are then taken off eBay's websites until their provenance can be proven, usually within hours. But luxury-goods firms say VeRO is not enough. They want eBay to take more responsibility for rooting out fakes. The Union des Fabricants in Paris, an anti-counterfeiting group, wants eBay to use its database of names and postal addresses of sellers to identify and ban professional counterfeiters."We have 2,000 employees worldwide fighting fraud," says Alexander von Schirmeister, head of eBay in France, "and if we have to do much more, you have to wonder to what extent our business model can exist." With the support of Meglena Kuneva, European commissioner for consumer protection, and three members of the European Parliament, eBay will argue in Brussels that the internet has been unfairly portrayed by luxury-goods firms as the root cause of counterfeiting. It wants the European Commission to rewrite the rules on "selective distribution", which allow manufacturers to control how their products are sold online. The rules, written before the internet took off, are now stifling e-commerce in Europe, eBay argues.But however much support eBay can drum up in Brussels, it is unlikely to distract attention from the forthcoming decision in LVMH's lawsuit. On June 4th eBay lost against Hermès, another French luxury-goods firm, which had sued it for selling counterfeit handbags. Now other firms are waiting to hear the results of the LVMH, Dior and L'Oréal cases against eBay, says Marc Antoine Jamet, chairman of the Union des Fabricants. If eBay loses, he says, "we will probably see many more brand-owners filing similar suits.