Let's just hope the LVMH attorneys don't learn of this one or we just never know what they'd do. In this episode, the gang attempts to verify an old story of a lighter more mobile version of the iron cannon that was evidently made out of leather. And of course if they were going to be doing some fine craftsmanship with leather, they may as well go luxury. I won't spoil the ending but do you think it'll work? Sorry but the Discovery Channel's website doesn't allow embedding of their videos so click here to watch it on their site.
Posts Tagged ‘LVMH’
Mythbusters Fire off a Leather Monogram Cannon
Friday, April 16th, 2010eBay fined €1.7m in ongoing battle with LVMH
Monday, November 30th, 2009
Louis Vuitton- LVMH- & eBay sure are playing a game of back and forth in French Courts over the past few years. eBay been taking a beating. It's now been sanctioned to the amount of €1.7m for allowing the sale of over 1000 unauthorized (but authentic) LVMH purfumes & cosmetics on the site. They're saying that eBay breached an injunction set in place in June of 2008, barring eBay from allowing the posting of perfumes or cosmetics in LVMH brands (LV, Dior, Kenzo, Givenchy, and Guerlain).
In response to today's eBay's general manager in France, Alex von Schirmeister said,
"Today's outcome hurts consumers by preventing them from buying and selling authentic items online. The injunction is an abuse of 'selective distribution.' It effectively enforces restrictive distribution contracts, which is anti-competitive. We believe that the higher courts will overturn this ruling and ensure that eCommerce companies such as eBay will continue to provide a platform for buyers and sellers to trade authentic goods... The fine itself is disproportionate given that eBay complied with the Injunction. It is out of step with our legal victories in France, UK, Germany, Belgium and the U.S."
I attalicized the highlighted parts in that quote myself- because they're just dead on. I'm all for very agressive measures in doing whatever it takes to remove fakes from any an all online marketplaces (and off). What I am totally against- are measures that are put in place that restrict the freedoms that individual owners have to do what they will with their own personal property.
I mean, if someone wants to throw a bottle of perfectly good Dior perfume that they bought themselves in the fireplace (not smart by the way)- so be it. If they want to give it to their sister, or throw it in the bin, or pour it down the drain- or sell it on eBay- they should have that right. Any decision that limits our ability to make those decisions- is limiting a fundemanetal personal property right.
Not only that- but the ability that we have to resell our property facilitates the inherent value of that piece. One of the reasons that your new Mercedes, or Tiffany ring, or Breitling watch keeps its value so well- is that the brand and quality are internationally recognizable- and resellable. You can at any time, recoup much of your investment. Luxury manufacturers who attempt to limit the resale potential for legitimate owners is just not smart.
What do you think???
Read more about it in the Wall Street Journal...
LV slaps eBay for Keyword Violations
Sunday, September 20th, 2009
On record, LVMH just came out on top in a head to head trademark battle with eBay in Paris. A tribunal there decided that eBay had indeed violated LVMH trademarks and fined them 80,000 Euros for it. But this one really requires a closer look. While they did win, relatively speaking.... they didn't win much. And this is no ordinary trademark discussion...
First of all... LVMH was seeking 4 MILLION Euros (why am I imagining the lawyer with his pinkie to his lip!) from eBay (a $50+ BILLION company)... and the courts set damages at just 2% of that sum... or only 80,000 Euros. It just kind of feels like this really is just a slap on the wrist. LVMH can not be happy with that.
But part of the reason why the punishment wasn't more harsh- has got to be the fact that we're not talking a traditional run of the mill trademark case here. You know the kind- and we TOTALLY support this type- where eBay gets sued for not doing more about fakes being listed on the site?
This was not one of those cases. This is a keyword violation case. eBay's deputy General Counsel phrased the legal question this way:
"Is it trademark infringement to buy and sell adwords?"
So basically, Louis Vuitton did not like the fact that eBay was paying for the use of keywords that they have trademarked. These included words like Christian Dior, Givenchy, Kenzo, and Guerlain, and other LVMH owned perfume related & trademarked terms. The entire case hung on the question of whether it is wrong to buy and sell adwords that include trademarked names.
Pierre Gode... the LVMH Group director said,
"The Tribunal has ruled that eBay, in using in its advertisements the keywords of some of LVMH's brands, has committed acts of counterfeiting through reproduction or imitation,"
IMO, this is going a bit far... I mean, I know that Louis Vuitton has always kept tight control over the use (and mis-use) of their good name. And I'm sure that's partially why they have maintained such great status and reputation over the years. But, Louis Vuitton does not like any disruption of their distribution chain period. They'd much rather that no one but their own Boutiques or other establishments under their control be able to sell items that they produce. That sounds fine, but what it means in France, for example... is that if you buy an LVMH branded perfume, (Dior for example) and you bring it home- and just don't like it, you are not allowed to sell it on eBay.fr. This was decided in the case that LVMH won against eBay last Fall.
Louis Vuitton controls items from production to sale- so any transactions going on outside of that chain- are basically considered countefeit. You can see this in practice, in any item that you buy from LV. Let's say you pick up a brand new Louis Vuitton Pegase suitcase from the louisvuitton.com- and end up haveing a problem with the handle. The closest boutique is hours away- so you decide to bring it over to your local shoe repair for the quick fix. Louis Vuitton will no longer consider this item authentic. They will disassociate themselves with it, and will no longer accept it for repair. Louis Vuitton's adwords battle is an effort in the same vein.
Like I said... I totally back any efforts to clean up all the fakes online & off. But I'm not into this Google fight at all. This is not the first time LVMH has sued in Keyword related trademark cases. They sued Google and won.... in a case that focuses on Google's Adwords system being used by counterfeiters. The result of this is that we (and other legitimate sellers like us) are not allowed to purchase these keywords on Google. Basically this means that we can't use any LV trademarked word in an adwords ad on Google. So, a person is searching Google for a pre-owned authentic Louis Vuitton Etoile- entering those terms in it's search- shouldn't find spondsored ad results that use those words. Seems like there is a win/win solution out there somewhere...
I actually applaud Louis Vuitton's efforts in combatting counterfeits- and recognize that what they've done to control distribution has been fantastic in keeping their value and reputation high... But brand owners also need to recognize that part of what makes a luxury item valuable (think not only bags, but jewels, or art or boats or houses) is the value that item has on the resale market. Limiting the option of an owner to sell that piece down the road- is not good for the business and is restrictive for the owner.
Anyway... we'll see where this goes. The 80,000 Euro fine may have been relatively small... but LVMH is sooo not done with them yet. It looks like the Tribunal also made sure that eBay knew in no uncertain terms- that additional violations would result in a fine of 1,000 Euros per infringement. eBay's now waiting on the results of a couple of Google cases that are in the courts now that may have an impact.
LVMH and Chanel inch forward in effort to limit Internet Sales in EU
Monday, July 27th, 2009
There's a major battle going on right now in Europe that involves Louis Vuitton, Chanel & eBay. The EU is trying to determine exactly how much control rights owners like LV & Chanel have over the distribution and sales of its products on the internet- and on eBay in particular. Of course, brand owners would love total control- and I'm sure would love to see their things totally removed from eBay and the internet in general.
It's funny how I actually agree with Bain & Co fashion industry analyst, Andrea Ciccoli when she said:
"Selective distribution, whether real or virtual, has always been fundamental for luxury brands... Not just anyone can sell products by Chanel and Prada in stores and there's no reason why they should be able to on the Web. It would be like giving people a license to print money."
I mean, part of what makes luxury companies so desirable is their exclusivity. I get that.
But, more than ever, consumers are also interested in the investment and resale value of the luxury goods that they purchase. How well an automobile keeps its value is more than ever a real concern and determining factor for buyers in which car they will buy. This is true for buyers of new cars as well as for automobiles on the secondary market.
There's been a lot written this year about "investment bags"... and we see this here at Fashionphile. The economy has turned South, so savvy shoppers more than ever are buying bags that will 1) pass the test of time and 2) will keep their value. We often get asked which bags keep their value better than others.
Sure hope Karl will think about this in his next meeting with European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes... his last meeting was said to have been instrumental in changing the initial draft of these new regulations in his favor. Remember, earlier this year when he said that sales on the internet do not allow for “the unique feel and sophistication of luxury materials, refined tailoring and extraordinary attention to detail found in luxury fashion.”
To some extent this may be true- it's difficult even for luxury companies themselves to mimic the “multi-sensory environment” that one experiences when shopping in a boutique. But in today's economy... many are willing to sacrifice a little of that in exchange for softer pricing and more than a season's variety.
What do you think?
Read more from Bloomberg
WSJ Magazine on Bernard Arnault
Saturday, March 7th, 2009
This is seriously "Must Read" material about Bernard Arnault- LVMH's chairman, the richest man in France and majority owner of LVMH (including Louis Vuitton), Givenchy, Tag Heuer watches, Donna Karan, Fendi and Moët & Chandon champagne, Dior, etc. etc. etc. (Check out this cool chart for an overview...): "Being Bernard Arnault" from the Wall Street Journal's new Magazine.
Some interesting quotes...
On the economic crisis:
“Every time there’s been a crisis, we’ve gained market share... We’re about to enter a market of buyers over the next six to eight months. There will be opportunities, and we will be looking at them.”
To Galliano on a red Dior handbag:
“What do you think?... John, help me out here. Do you like it?” he asks. “It’s for a younger crowd,” the designer ventures. “Think of it for the streets of St. Tropez.” Arnault shakes his head. “I don’t like it,” he says. “I don’t want to see it in stores.” (Read the whole interchange on page three... it's an eye opener!)
On fashion designers:
“Designers are closer to artists than to engineers... They’re not like normal managers, and you have to balance their creativity and rationality. John, Karl, Marc, they’re genius. You can’t put them into a rational environment. They’re sometimes late, and you have to accept that if you work with them, you have to be understanding with them.”
His wife, Canadian concert pianist Hélène Mercier, on Arnault:
“He’s more than impatient, he’s obsessive... Everything has to be perfect. But sometimes that means that he’ll obsess about the little things. Like if a painting is too low, he’ll tell you 10 times that the painting is too low and I’m like, ‘Let’s move on.’ He doesn’t know half-measures. And he hates to lose.”
It's a really, really great read.
Photo Credit from an amazing spread on business legands by Ben Baker...
EllesVMH: Louis Vuitton Celebrates International Women’s Day
Friday, February 27th, 2009
I love what LVMH is doing for International Women's Day (March 8). They are exhibiting pictures of around 100 of their employees at the Avenue Montaigne headquarters. The exhibition is called “EllesVMH” and the pics were shot by famed photographer Christophe Beauregard.
WWD reports that included are Judith Dahan (Dior Couture studio assistant ), Mireille Song (Louis Vuitton sales associate) and Sarah Tyler (pastry chef from La Grande Epicerie). On March 5 there will be a private preview.
Photo Credits: Christophe Beauregard for LV via WWD
Louis Vuitton NOT buying Coach
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009Well, they sure quashed that rumor! LVMH has released an official statement denying "any interest" in buying Coach. So there you have it!
Louis Vuitton to buy Coach?
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009Louis Vuitton Scraps the Tokyo Ginza Flagship Boutique
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
(Multicolore Matsuya Department Store Ginza Shopping District)
Louis Vuitton had been weathering the whole economic downturn so well... even recording profits this October when everyone else was seeing major losses.
After seeing numbers go down in Japan, LV's scraping the ten story Ginza Flagship Boutique that was scheduled to be completed by 2010.
Story from IHT.
