From The Register

eBay must pay £30.6m (€38.8m) in damages to posh handbag group LVMH for allowing fake versions of its designer bags to be sold on the auction site.

The online tat house said it would appeal the decision and accused the French company of using the issue of fakes to crack down more generally on online sales.

The case was brought on two separate grounds – that eBay failed to take enough action to stop counterfeit goods being sold in 2006 and that it allowed genuine, but unauthorised, sales of certain perfume brands.

The Paris commercial court awarded damages of €16.4m to Louis Vuitton, €19.28m Christian Dior and €3.2m to the perfume brands. It rejected eBay’s claim that it was just a host and that individual traders were responsible for the legality of their lots.

There’s also a legal case in the US involving Tiffany. And Newsnight on BBC2 uncovered a thriving trade in Marks&Spencer credit notes for ‘returned’ (i.e. shoplifted) goods. All in all, not a great period for eBay.