eBay 'not accountable' for fake goods

The High Court has ruled that eBay cannot be held accountable for the sale of fake products on its auction website following a challenge from cosmetics maker L'Oreal.

The French cosmetics company challenged eBay for not doing enough to stop the sale of fake products which could potentially harm people.

Thousands of L'Oréal-branded items are listed for sale on the site.

L'Oréal took legal action in order to "protect consumers and also to maintain and defend the reputation of its brands, the products of which are guaranteed for safety and quality within legal distribution channels", the company said.

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However, the High Court upheld eBay's defence. The auction giant said its only involvement is to provide a trading platform for the exchange of goods, not to inspect.

Richard Ambrose, head of Trust and Safety at eBay said the judgment was a victory for "consumers and the thousands of entrepreneurs who sell legitimate goods on eBay every day".

Ambrose said the way to resolve disputes was not through litigation but through dialogue.

In its assessment L'Oréal welcomed the High Court judgment saying that the court agreed eBay needs to do more to prevent trade mark infringement and suggested measures which include more filtering on eBay's part as well as applying sanctions more rigoroulsy.

eBay has won important court battles in UK, US, France and Belgium with companies who accuse it of facilitating the sale of fake goods.

However, a court in Germany ruled in L'Oréal's favour.