eBay ain't gonna be no Canal Street, y'all hear? Yesterday a French court ruled the site was directly responsible for the sale of counterfeit Hermès handbags. eBay had to pay the company about 20,000 euros ($30,000) in damages jointly with the woman who put the bags up for sale. Hermès had been seeking 30,000 euros in damages, but the victory is far sweeter than that 10k they missed out on (that's like seven Birkin bags). eBay will now have to carefully monitor the site for any fakes up for bidding.

This is also a sweet victory for other luxury companies who have also been trying to nail the auction site for counterfeit sales. Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior have gone to court against eBay, but they're asking for 20 million and 17 million euros respectively. The judge ordered eBay to publish the ruling on its French homepage for three months, which seems kind of embarrassing. Then again, at least they don't owe 20 million euros. Yet…

French court fines eBay over counterfeit goods [AFP]