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French court fines eBay €40m over counterfeits

Impartial judges The statement to the effect that "doubts have been raised over the impartiality of the tribunal, which is staffed by amateur judges taken from the business world" is incredibly unprofessional. One might as well say the same thing about international arbitrators, employment tribunals or any other justiceable decision-making body not staffed by professional magistrates. I did not see eBay France raising an argument that the Paris Commercial Court lacked jurisdiction due to its impartiality. eBay has chosen to do business in a jurisdiction in which the initial level jurisdiction which hears disputes of a commercial nature is staffed by elected members of the business community. It knew full well what it was doing. Appeal will be to the Paris Court of Appeals and, unlike the case in other jurisdictions, this will, in accordance with the French rules on "double degree of jurisdiction", be a full rehearing including on the facts, not only on the law.

8-Jul-2008

6:17 pm