• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, July 1, 2008

A French court has ordered eBay to pay more than $60 million to luxury goods manufacturer LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton for failing to keep counterfeits off the site. The French court also ordered eBay to ban the sale of legitimate LVMH perfume on the site, because LVMH says it only allows authorized retailers to sell its perfume.

In the U.S. eBay faces a lawsuit from jewelry store Tiffany & Co., which says the auction site should be liable for knock-offs sold on the site. As Viacom argues in its lawsuit against YouTube, Tiffany alleges that piracy is rampant on eBay. That case is still awaiting a decision from judge Richard Sullivan, who presided over a one-week trial in federal court in Manhattan late last year.

Some observers have said the French case could influence U.S. judges, but that's not necessarily so, as U.S. law differs in many respects from European law. Consider, just last month a federal court reaffirmed that people could sell lawfully obtained CDs on eBay regardless of the wishes of the original manufacturer. In that case, a judge dismissed Universal Music Group's lawsuit against eBay seller Troy Augusto, who used the site to sell promotional CDs he purchased from record stores. Even though the CDs were marked "not for resale," the court ruled that people have the right to resell goods they have purchased.