Take a scroll through the cosmetics section of an online auction market, and you’re likely to run across some questionable goods. Want a used tube of lipstick sans packaging? Counterfeit eye shadow? Loads of samples and testers labeled “not for resale”? You can probably find it.
Cosmetics and perfume giant L’Oréal wasn’t happy about these sales. It also was finding that some of its goods that were never intended to be sold in Europe were ending up there through eBay sales. Unhappy with eBay’s response to its concerns, in 2007 L’Oréal sued the online auction marketplace in Belgium, Britain, France, Germany and Spain, alleging trademark infringements.
