Letters And Comment

Your readers may be interested to learn that the long awaited decision of the Court of First Instance of Paris on the EBay vs L'Oréal case finally came through on May 13 after several postponements. The case was mentioned in the conclusion of the WIPO Magazine 3/2009 article: "Legal Pioneering at the Online Auction Frontier." Contrary to the main case discussed in that article and others it mentioned, the Court ruled that the liability of eBay - an Internet host - could only be enforced in cases of evidenced knowledge of the infringing content and failure to remedy thereto.

The L'Oréal suit, launched in 2007, alleged trademark infringement and breach of selected distribution networks by eBay companies. L'Oréal argued that eBay qualified as a website editor with brokerage activities, which under French practice makes eBay fully responsible for the content of its website. The auction site was said to actively intervene in the promotion of cosmetic and perfume products, and to earn money on their sales. L'Oréal claimed 3.5 million euros in damages.

EBay opposed the plaintiff's position, claiming it was an intermediary, offering solely hosting services and lacking Franck Soutoul and Jean-Philippe Bresson Inlex IP Expertise www.inlex.com France control over users and the contents of their ads. "Power seller" programs...