L'Oreal SA has taken eBay Inc. to court across Europe, suing in Britain, Germany, France, Belgium and Spain over the sale of fake fragrances and cosmetics on the site.

L'Oreal claims there is an increasing volume of counterfeit goods being sold on eBay. The online auctioneer said negotiations between the companies on the issue broke down because L'Oreal was being unreasonable.

Justice Richard David Arnold ruled in London's High Court that eBay Europe was not liable for trademark infringements committed by its users.

EBay said in a statement that the British ruling was "a victory for consumers and the thousands of entrepreneurs who sell legitimate goods on eBay every day."

A call placed with L'Oreal's London office seeking comment was not immediately returned.

Earlier this month, a French court ordered L'Oreal and eBay to settle their differences, giving them until May 25 to come up with a mediated settlement. Other cases elsewhere in Europe are still pending.

South Korea's opposition parties and thousands of people petitioned the Constitutional Court to try to block U.S. beef from entering the country by claiming the notice violated their constitutional rights.

The nine-member court rejected the petition, saying that measures in the legal notice intended to protect consumer safety could not be ruled insufficient.

The government issued the notice in late June — the final administrative step required to allow shipments to resume — despite weeks of violent protests by South Koreans concerned about the health risks of eating U.S. meat.

South Korea banned American beef in 2003 after a case of mad cow disease was discovered in the U.S.

In November, South Korea's supermarket chains resumed selling U.S. beef from cattle younger than 30 months, believed less susceptible to mad cow disease.

Eating meat products contaminated with mad cow disease is linked to variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare and fatal human malady.

In a case filed Friday, the U.S. said China was violating global trade rules administered by the World Trade Organization in the way it operates a "famous brands" program to promote the sale of Chinese goods overseas.

"There are some different opinions between the two countries on trade and these differences should be solved through equal consultations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a news briefing.

"Under the current circumstances with the deteriorating financial crisis, we should be alert to trade protectionism in any forms," said Qin.

The United States could be cleared to impose economic sanctions against China if negotiations between the two nations fail to resolve the dispute and if a WTO hearing panel rules in favor of the U.S.

A notice on China's Ministry of Commerce said Sunday that China has always obeyed WTO rules and opposes protectionism. China will follow the rules of the WTO in dealing with the case, it said.

China's export-dominated economy is feeling the brunt of a drop of demand in its Western markets, with thousands of factories closing in its once-booming southern provinces. Critics say China is not doing enough to stimulate domestic consumption and is still trying to support its exporters, which could bring it into friction with the U.S. and other trading partners.

The state court in Hannover rejected a suit by Porsche — VW's biggest shareholder — which attempted to end a peculiarity under which Lower Saxony's stake at just over 20 percent gives it the ability to block decisions.

The state of Lower Saxony is where VW's Wolfsburg headquarters is located.

Stuttgart-based Porsche holds more than 40 percent and aims to build up its stake to 75 percent next year.

Porsche argued that the threshold for a blocking minority should be 25 percent, keeping in line with standard German securities laws.

However, a state court in Hannover upheld Lower Saxony's argument that a European court ruling which struck down a long-standing law protecting VW from hostile takeovers does not affect the blocking minority.

Porsche spokesman Albrecht Bamler said his company, which already has effective control over Volkswagen, would appeal.

Shares of Porsche Automobil Holding SE were up 2.8 percent euro54 ($70), while VW shares were down 2.5 percent at euro287 in Frankfurt trading.

The Seoul Central District Court absolved former finance ministry official Byeon Yang-ho and former Korea Exchange Bank chief Lee Kang-won of breach of trust charges over allegations they conspired to understate the lender's value, according to Ma Yong-joo, a court spokesman.

Dallas, Texas-based Lone Star took over KEB in late 2003 by purchasing a controlling stake. The fund has long battled allegations that it was able to acquire the then distressed lender at a bargain price.

In clearing the men, Presiding Judge Lee Kyoo-jin said that there were few other options available to KEB at the time than the purchase by Lone Star, according to Ma.

Prosecutors had contended that Byeon and Lee worked with Lone Star to intentionally understate KEB's assets, thus arranging for the bank to be sold at a price that was up to 825.2 billion won cheaper than it should have been valued.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted a prosecution spokesman as saying prosecutors would appeal the ruling.

The Tokyo High Court rejected Horie's appeal of a lower court conviction of securities laws violations. He was found guilty in March last year of masterminding a network of decoy investment funds to manipulate earnings at his Net services startup Livedoor Co.

Horie, 35, who has repeatedly said he is innocent, will take his case to the Japanese Supreme Court, his lawyer Yasuyuki Takai said after the ruling.

"We definitely cannot accept this decision," he said on nationally televised NHK news. "It is incomprehensible."

Also upheld Friday was the Tokyo District Court decision that sentenced Horie to 2-1/2 years in prison. In Japan, it is still quite rare for an executive to get a prison sentence for white collar crimes. Horie is out on bail.

At the time of the lower court ruling, the judge had said Horie and Livedoor had caused great damage to investors. The Tokyo company's false earnings reports had grave social consequences in wreaking havoc on Tokyo markets, the judge said.

The appeals court said it agreed with that ruling, arguing that Horie as chief executive played a key role in the dubious funds set up for stock swaps and other schemes to pad Livedoor books, according to Japanese media reports.

The Seoul Central District Court found Lee guilty of not paying about 47 billion won ($46 million) in taxes and fined him 110 billion won ($109 million).

But the court did not send Lee to prison, saying he just kept the assets in question after inheriting them under borrowed names from his late father — Samsung's founder — and that he did not actively seek to evade the taxes.

Prosecutors had demanded a seven-year sentence and 350 billion won ($347 million) in fines against Lee.

"The extent of his crime is not serious enough to sentence him to prison," Judge Min Byung-hun said. He sentenced Lee to three years in prison and then suspended the sentence for five years, meaning Lee will not go to jail as long as he avoid further legal woes.

South Korean judges have repeatedly shown leniency in high-profile corporate cases, refusing to send tycoons to prison for fears of the effects it would have on the country's economy.