L'Oreal and eBay bury the hatchet after forgery fight

Cosmetics giant L'Oreal and online auctioneer eBay buried the hatchet today after more than six years of court battles over the sale of counterfeit goods, a joint statement said.

"The parties believe that cooperation, rather than litigation, is the way forward to fight against counterfeiting," L'Oreal and eBay said.

Settlement terms, "including financial terms in favour of L'Oreal", would remain confidential, the companies said.

L'Oreal, which is the world's biggest cosmetic company, has been battling eBay since 2007 in several jurisdictions, accusing the online pioneer of doing too little to stop the sale of fakes.

In the statement, L'Oreal said it "acknowledges eBay's commitment in the fight against intellectual property infringement".

The deal comes more than two years after the European Court of Justice decided that eBay should be held responsible if it did not step up its anti-counterfeit measures.

In 2007, L'Oreal pursued eBay in Belgium Germany, France, Britain and Spain after seeing a growing stock of fake perfumes and cosmetics items on the site.