The world’s largest online auction site, eBay, has been hit with a massive €1.7 million (USD $2.55 million) fine after the company has failed to adhere to a previous injunction that ruled the company wasn’t doing enough to block the sale of counterfeited Louis Vuitton products.
The first ruling that was handed down against eBay in the summer of 2008 had a total massive fine of €38 million euros (USD $57 million) for negligence in the sale of the counterfeited goods, along with an injunction ordering the company to block French and UK users from buying counterfeited Louis Vuitton merchandise.
The courts maintain that since the ruling more than 1,000 counterfeited Louis Vuitton goods have been posted to the site for sale in the regions the initial injunction prohibited.
eBay since that ruling has implemented new filters to entirely block those users part of the injunction from even seeing authentic Louis Vuitton products in search results. Additionally, in 2008, eBay spent $20 million in software to catch and remove 2 million auctions on suspected counterfeit goods.
eBay proponents argue the company has done reasonably enough to prevent the sale of the goods, and more measures would entirely block people from buying even authentic products. The designers contest that even if the products are not fake, eBay is still violating their distribution networks because they only allow authorized distributors to move goods.
eBay says the new fine is disproportionate and says it plans to appeal the fine handed down from the French commercial court. The appeal will be heard in May 2010.
Murad is an engineering graduate from Centennial college in Toronto. He is responsible for everything tech. 
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