As advocates for choice, competition and innovation on the Net, we’re troubled to read about a ludicrous court ruling against online commerce. The French Tribunal de Commerce in Paris ordered eBay to pay 39 million Euros to French luxury goods maker LVMH. Mike Masnick of Techdirt shares our outrage here.

Judging by media coverage of this ruling, one would think it’s all about preventing sales of counterfeit goods. But it’s actually much farther-reaching than that, in a way that’s incredibly damaging to the growth of e-commerce, small business and consumer choice in Europe. The French Court ruled that eBay must halt the sale of legitimate, genuine LVMH perfumes on the eBay site. Essentially, the Court held that a big business like LVMH could stop customers and owners of its products from re-selling them to someone else. This is blatant discrimination by French authorities against the e-commerce channel. eBay is appealing the ruling (read their take on the ruling on their company blog, eBay Ink). The outcome of this appeal could impact the future of e-commerce around the world.

Imagine if efficient online marketplaces like eBay, Overstock, Amazon and others had to pull the plug on entire categories of items, preventing perfectly legal sales of authentic items. Millions of shoppers use these sites to find great deals on things they want or need. During tough economic times, many people look to the web to help stretch a household budget. And millions of people around the world use the web as a tool for running their small businesses. And if you think that this is just another example of “France being France,” think again. This backward, anti-competitive perspective may be coming to a court near you. Any day now, the Federal District Court in New York will rule on Tiffany’s lawsuit against eBay. Again, Tiffany is crying counterfeits, and trotting out dubious data on online sales. But we believe Tiffany’s real interest here is to shut down any distribution of Tiffany products that isn’t completely controlled by Tiffany. Got a gift of earrings that just aren’t your style? If the New York court rules the wrong way, you may no longer have the option of selling them online.

Of course, counterfeits are a scourge to any marketplace. They undermine brand integrity and cheat buyers. And counterfeits have been a problem long before the Internet existed. eBay and others have worked hard to stem the sale of fake items. But go to any urban sidewalk, bazaar or back alley, and you’ll likely find the counterfeit trade still thriving. So when manufacturers and retailers cry “counterfeit” and point fingers at the e-commerce channel, their true motives are exposed. They’re calling for competition prevention—not consumer protection. And when courts agree with them, we all lose.

Steve DelBianco is executive director of NetChoice.

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As I prepare for this year’s ERA Annual Awards Show under the call to arms “Retailers Rock,” I’ve been on an iTunes download binge worthy of Barry, Jack Black’s dogmatic record clerk character in the movie “High Fidelity.” A few classic gems from the Stones and The Who, a nice sprinkling of three-chord bliss from the likes of X and the Ramones, even a download of The Tubes’ first gem, which provided the soundtrack for my first job as a pump jockey at 16. Maybe this latter disc was prescient for what I would go on to do for a living for it contained the Zappa-esque, “What Do You Want From Life?” Sample lyrics:

“What do you want from life?
To get cable TV and watch it every night…
Well, you can’t have that, but if you’re an American citizen you are entitled to:
A heated kidney shaped pool,
A microwave oven—don’t watch the food cook,
A Dyna-Gym—I’ll personally demonstrate it in the privacy of your own home,
A king-size titanic unsinkable Molly Brown waterbed with polybendum,
A foolproof plan and an airtight alibi,
Real simulated Indian jewelry,
A Gucci shoetree,
A year’s supply of antibiotics…”

You get the idea. Yes, this was the ’70s and drugs were prevalent in the workplace. But it also points out how personal each person’s quest for nostalgia is and why, despite the best efforts to tap into a collective consciousness for the good ‘old days, advertisers so frequently fail in their attempts to reference music in television advertising.

Personally, I don’t care if I ever hear another cut from Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumors” in this lifetime. That “Now dare you go again, you say you want your freedom” thing has been warbling on the radio ad naseum since both Steve Nicks and I actually had abdominal muscles. Nor is Led Zeppelin going to make me ever buy a Cadillac. And please spare me the Ameriprise and Cialis ads with well-heeled, frisky Centrum Silver Surfer-types frolicking on the beach (Psst: they’re havin’ sex tonight!) I’m an American. I want something new. And shiny.

Nobody serves this up better than Apple that consistently introduces new candied-like objects of desire accompanied by fresh cuts that springboard out of their commercials to become the soundtrack of our lives—today. Whether it’s introducing U2’s “Vertigo” or breaking Yael Naim’s “New Soul, “ they’ve got it down. Heck, my mother—who is in her 70s—bought the new Coldplay as a result of their most recent ad.

I imagine the younger generation—the one I’m a guest speaker to annually who have informed me that the Geico caveman spots are the apex of good advertising—would site U2 and Coldplay as contemptible examples of sellout bands. Meanwhile, my son listens to Tom Petty, while I favor Snow Patrol. Bottom line: With easy access to an infinite catalogue, tidy generational generalities don’t work anymore. I lived through the Gerald Ford Presidency, disco and “Family Feud” once and it was enough, thank you. So, even though the juice in my gin may be of the joint variety, I need it to move to Amy Winehouse, not April Wine. Hit me.

Rick Petry is ERA’s interim-CEO

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According to a New York Times article, viewers are shown programs—and ads—they can respond to by using remote controls to click on icons they see on their screens. Each click sends a signal to the viewer’s personal portal—basically, a site where everything the person has expressed interest in is aggregated. Then, the viewer can look up more information there the next time he or she goes online.

For example, someone who clicks on an icon embedded in a spot for a local car dealer can send to a personal portal a link to the dealer’s website or to the site of the car brand. Backchannel Media—which hosts the portals on its server—refers to these response opportunities as “clickable moments.” Linking TV and the Internet can be “a game-changing technology,” says Michael Kokernak, who shares the title of chief executive at Backchannel with Daniel Hassan, because it represents “a huge shift from how stations operate today.” The Backchannel system is one of several experiments with interactive television, which seeks to blend the ubiquity and convenience of traditional TV with the interactive qualities of personal computers.

Here’s a recent newscast that discusses the program:

Do you think this program has the potential for national success?

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ERA and Electronic Retailer were on the road last week attending Internet Retailer, DM Days, Mobile Marketing Forum and the INPEX show. We also managed to have an awesome reception in Times Square at the offices of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. ERA would like to thank its reception sponsors: Manatt, Litle & Co., O’Currance Teleservices, Dream Team Direct Inc. and Media Funding Corporation. Below are some photos from the various events. Enjoy!

ERA’s Katie White awaits the guests…

InfoTech’s Cole Van Heel, Dream Team’s Mike Moreau and SF Video’s Steve Feinberg

The goods…

ERA’s Robin Greenspan with Andrea Rose

Networking…

Power Direct’s Bret Butterfield, Liquid Focus’ Ken Osborn and MFLS’s Scott Swanson

INPEX took place at Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center- the largest green building in the world.

Inventors were able to pitch their products for possible inclusion on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno”

Electronic Retailer’s Pat Cauley with PurBlu’s Eva Lorini

C Spot Run Productions’ Wendi Cooper with Product Strategies’ Michael Planit

Save the date: ERA Santa Monica reception on July 16th! Email Katie White at kwhite@retailing.org for more information!

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June 18th was a big day. Mozilla Firefox (the open-source web browser which has been gradually stealing market share from Internet Explorer) launched their 3.0 browser as well as its Guinness Book of World Records attempt for the most downloads in a 24-hour period. Yes, you may laugh off the attempt at claiming a spot in the GBWR (after all, they’ll be right up there with the man with the longest ear hair), but the greater subtext to this story is really the broader reach of Firefox and other movements to change the Internet.

Over the past few years the Internet has become more open, more accessible and more robust. Small start-up companies have been able to take a concept and reach millions of people with minimal barriers; programmers have been able to deploy their web-based apps across multiple browsers and operating systems through a seamless and consistent user experience; and ultimately, end users have benefited tremendously. It’s often overlooked or misunderstood by the average consumer, but a main reason that this has been possible is because of standards. Organizations like the W3C have essentially laid out the frameworks that have made many of these cross-browser, cross-platform communications possible. Companies can choose to ignore those standards (which players like Microsoft have at times tried), but oftentimes market forces will come to bear and even the big guys will be coaxed into support of the standards. In Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat,” he talks about one the ten “flatteners” (or economic game-changers) of the 21st century being the shift from proprietary closed systems, to open and inter-operable systems that can freely communicate with other systems. All of this can happen because of standards.

So what does this have to do with electronic retailing? A lot, actually. If you’ve been a marketer or service provider in this space you know the pains of trying to pass files between fulfillment houses, call centers, web providers and media agencies. If you’ve been around long enough you probably also remember the times when getting YOUR data out of YOUR fulfillment provider was more difficult than getting a penny out of Fort Knox. Fortunately, good things are on the horizon. The ERA Technology Council has been steadily at work and over the next several months we hope to release some standards documentation for e-retailing marketers and service providers in our space. We’ve already begun forming a committee of big and small players in the space and first up on the docket is a fulfillment transmission standard. What does this mean for you? Well, if you are a marketer, web provider, call center or fulfillment provider that supports the standard spec, it means quicker integrations, lower costs, fewer mistakes and hopefully more opportunities for everyone to compete. That’s right, LOWER COSTS AND MORE BUSINESS—kind of makes you want to go out and download Firefox doesn’t it?

If you have in interest in participating in the standards formation process please contact Tom Quash at tquash@retailing.org.

Joel Iverson heads up the Technology Practice at KPI Direct—an outsourced strategy and management firm serving the direct-to-consumer industry. He is also a member of the ERA Technology Council.

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A while back, I wrote an article that discussed the viability of viral marketing for Electronic Retailer’s September 2007 issue. In the article, I mention different campaigns that have used viral marketing and succeeded, as well as a few that didn’t pan out (think “Snakes on a Plane” bombing at the box office).

According to Wikipedia, viral marketing refers to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, akin to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Viral marketing is a marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message voluntarily.

Below are two current, successful viral campaigns:

The first video shows how a well-established brand like Bud Light uses viral marketing to keep itself hip, fresh and funny. This video was brought to my attention via word-of-mouth while out this weekend.

The second shows how a less established brand uses YouTube to drive to its website and keep potential customers engaged and entertained.

The fact that you viewed these videos means I just helped move the viral campaigns forward. Whether you share it with your family and friends, a true test of success is up to you.

Pat Cauley is Electronic Retailer magazine’s eMedia Editor

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Electronic Retailer’s digital version of its print publication has gone through some major upgrades! Click here to read through the interactive archives providing cutting edge content on multichannel marketing and advertising.

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New media evangelism in the direct response industry begins to remind me of biblical tales of woe, the Old Testament tales where prophets are slaughtered or exiled or something along those lines. Or at least roundly mocked. It’s part of my personal story and also part of the state of the industry, and it’s truly unfortunate.

For those of us who embrace risk and are joyful and passionate in our approach to new media, evangelism can be the most grueling, frustrating part of the game. Trying to make a twitter proselyte out of someone who can’t figure out e-mail attachments? Yeah, it gets old.

Time after time when talking to DR agency folks, I’ve run into an impenetrable wall of mythology about new media. It’s fear-based, it’s preventing progress for all the worst reasons, it’s causing forward-thinkers to be punished, and it’s simply untrue. The mythology includes the ideas that mobile commerce isn’t functional, that social media isn’t measurable, that R&D can’t lead to ROI, etc.

Recently, an agency CEO quipped about media/tech adoption, “You can lead a horse to water…”

Alright, so publications such as Electronic Retailer are leading the DR horse to water through education. Firebrands such as Marty Fahncke, Dana Todd, and a slew of others are leading the horse through sometimes-rabid evangelism. Research firms publish data saying that consumers are ready for new media. Clients are beginning to ask for more creative digital solutions.

I do begin to wonder: What’s it going to take to get that horse to drink…Damn it.

Jolie O’Dell is a mobile, social and evolving search enthusiast.

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