A French commercial court Monday ordered eBay Inc. to pay more than $61 million to a high-end fashion company because counterfeit goods were sold on the auction site. The fashion company, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, is home to such prestigious brands as Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Fendi, Emilio Pucci and Marc Jacobs, and had complained that it was hurt by the sale of knockoff bags and clothes on eBay. Pierre Godet, an adviser to LVMH Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault, said the Paris court's decision was "an answer to a particularly serious question, on whether the Internet is a free-for-all for the most hateful, parasitic practices."

EBay countered that LVMH is trying to crack down on Internet auctions merely because it is uncomfortable with the business model, which tends to cut out the middleman.

"If counterfeits appear on our site, we take them down swiftly," eBay spokeswoman Sravanthi Agrawal said. "But today's ruling is not about counterfeits. Today's ruling is about an attempt by LVMH to protect uncompetitive commercial practices at the expense of consumer choice and the livelihood of law-abiding sellers that eBay empowers every day." She said eBay hopes to appeal the ruling.

The case pit two pillars of their industries -- one old, one new -- in a country whose courts often challenge Internet companies on matters protected elsewhere by freedom of speech. For example, French courts have ordered U.S. auction sites to keep Nazi paraphernalia away from French eyes.

The ruling came down against eBay on two fronts. The court faulted the online company for "guilty negligence," for not doing enough to prevent fake goods from being sold on its site. The court also ruled that eBay was responsible for the "illicit sale" of perfumes from the LVMH empire, which can be sold only through the brands' "selective distribution networks."

High-end fashion companies like LVMH make their money by selling exclusive products, and fight a never-ending battle against cheap ripoffs and alleged affronts to their trademarks.

In an earlier instance of LVMH trying to protect its brands online, a Paris court in 2005 ordered Google Inc. to pay 200,000 euros (about $260,000 at the time) to Louis Vuitton for breach of trademark. In that case, Google had to stop displaying advertisements for Louis Vuitton's rivals when Web users typed Vuitton's name into the search engine.

Former Samsung boss Lee Kun-hee offered a public apology Thursday as his tax evasion trial opened.

The trial comes two months after Lee's stunning resignation from the helm of South Korea's biggest industrial conglomerate.

"I am truly sorry for causing this trouble," the gray-suited Lee said in a calm voice in the packed courtroom. "I will take full responsibility for it and assume a sincere attitude in court."

The 66-year-old Lee also apologized in April when he announced he was stepping down days after he was indicted.

The charges followed a high-profile probe into the conglomerate, of which Samsung Electronics Co. is the flagship corporation.

Lee was indicted on charges of evading 112.8 billion won ($110 million) in taxes and breach of trust.

Prosecutors, however, dismissed the most explosive claim by the former employee — that Samsung maintained a massive slush fund to bribe influential South Koreans.

The tax evasion charge carries a possible sentence of between five years to life in prison, though Lee could serve no time in prison even if convicted because of the leeway given to South Korean judges.

South Korea's political opposition asked the Constitutional Court on Friday to block U.S. beef from entering the country after the government announced it would resume imports within days under an accord with Washington.

The government's announcement came despite widespread public opposition to the beef deal, which critics say fails to adequately protect against mad cow disease. About 9,000 people took to the streets in Seoul on Thursday night to denounce the move.

Three main opposition parties filed lawsuits Friday asking the Constitutional Court to rule that the government's move violates the people's right to health, and to issue an injunction against a resumption of imports until it issues a verdict.

They also demanded that all Cabinet members resign.

Constitutional Court spokesman Judge Kim Bok-ki said the court will deliberate the case expeditiously, but he did not give a timeframe.

Quarantine inspections of American beef shipments are expected to begin next week.

Still, U.S. beef is not expected to become widely available immediately because four major discount chains say they have no plans to put it on their shelves because of negative public perceptions of American beef.

Porsche, the German sports car maker, cranked up pressure on Volkswagen Friday, saying it had urged the biggest European carmaker to scrap corporate statutes that have been ruled illegal.

The manufacturer of the 911 sports car currently owns 31 percent of the shares in VW and plans to raise its stake to more than 50 percent at an unspecified point in the future.

Porsche said it had called on Volkswagen to propose changes to its articles of incorporation at a shareholders' meeting April 24 and to eliminate clauses deemed illegal by a European Union court in October.

The amendments would include annulling the right of the German government, and the state of Lower Saxony which holds a 20 percent stake in VW, to send representatives to the car maker's supervisory board.

Porsche also said the VW corporation bylaws should remove a clause that caps voting rights at 20 percent regardless of the number of shares owned by an investor.

A clause that defines 80 percent of VW shares represented at the general assembly as a "qualified majority" vote should be reduced to 75 percent, Porsche said.

A qualified majority vote from the assembly is required on certain strategic issues, effectively giving Lower Saxony a veto over some decisions.

Porsche said it wanted the amendments included in the assembly agenda because VW had not implemented a ruling from the European Court of Justice.

The court ruled that certain clauses of the so-called Volkswagen Law, passed by the German government in the 1960s to protect the carmaker from hostile takeovers, violated EU laws on free movement of capital.

Porsche urged the German government to scrap the VW law altogether, after officials said they were working on a new draft that would pass EU muster.

The luxury sports car maker has called in the past for the government to begin considering VW as "a normal company."

Treasurys rallied Friday, benefiting from a stock market unnerved by liquidity troubles at Bear Stearns and data showing unexpectedly mild inflation last month.

Bear Stearns Friday revealed it will tap JPMorgan Chase & Co. for a four-week secured loan facility to boost the company's liquidity. JPMorgan will make the loan in conjunction with the New York Federal Reserve.

Throughout this week, investors have been concerned about the investment bank's possible explosure to collapsing fund Carlyle Capital and other at-risk investment funds. Carlyle Capital, an arm of private equity firm Carlyle Group, invested heavily in poor-quality mortgage assets and has had to default on $16.6 billion in debt.

The market was concerned that Bear could end up seizing low-quality mortgage-backed securities as collateral from Carlyle. That likely would have left Bear unable to sell those assets. Bear Stearns already had taken significant writedowns on its own mortgage-related holdings.

Banks may have to swallow reductions in the principal of some troubled home loans to ward off greater losses that could result from outright default, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Tuesday.

Warning that mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures are likely to rise, with more declines in house prices, Bernanke called for active measures from both the public and private sectors to stabilize housing markets.

"This situation calls for a vigorous response," Bernanke said in a speech to the Independent Community Bankers of America, referring to government and private-sector initiatives to slow the rate of home loan failures.

"Measures to reduce preventable foreclosures could help not only stressed borrowers but also their communities and, indeed, the broader economy," he said.

U.S. government bond prices shed early losses and turned higher, while stocks extended their declines and the downtrodden dollar touched another all-time low against a basket of currencies.

Market bets of a Fed rate cut at its March 18 meeting ticked down slightly to roughly a 66 percent chance of a cut in benchmark interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point from the current 3 percent.

Bernanke's comments come as the central bank grapples with the twin dilemmas of a slowing economy and rising inflation. U.S. economic growth slowed to a sluggish 0.6 percent at the end of 2007 and hiring declined in January. But inflation rose 4.1 percent in 2007, the largest 12-month rise since 1990.

Current housing difficulties differ from past housing market slumps because of the large number of homeowners who owe more on their loans than their homes are worth, Bernanke said. 

The dollar sank to a new low against the euro after the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank said Wednesday that the U.S. would encounter more sluggish economic activity in the coming weeks and months.

"The economic situation has become distinctly less favorable" since the summer, the Fed chief told the House Financial Services Committee, a sign markets took to be evidence of yet more interest rate cuts by the U.S. central bank which pushed the euro higher.

Lower interest rates can jump-start a nation's economy, but may weigh on its currency as traders transfer funds to countries where they can earn higher returns.

Shortly after his testimony, the euro surged to a record $1.5105 before falling back slightly to $1.5043 in afternoon trading, from the $1.4967 it bought in late trading Tuesday in New York.

The surging euro makes it more expensive for Americans visiting Europe, but makes U.S. shopping more appealing to Europeans.

Since Bernanke's last such assessment last summer, the housing slump has worsened, credit problems have intensified and the job market has deteriorated. Bernanke said that the confluence of these factors has turned people and businesses alike toward a more cautious attitude toward spending and investment.

This, he said, has further weakened the economy.

That is in contrast to Europe where, despite the roaring euro, growth is still on track, albeit slightly slower, and markets are optimistic that should the U.S. go into recession, the continent would be able to weather any such slowdowns.

The European Central Bank, which has left its own rates unchanged since last summer, is expected to keep them at 4 percent when it meets next week.