But another commenter, identified as Jamie, cannot ignore notification about one of its customers indulging in possibly illegal activities. "ISPs don't really enjoy the same rights as "public carriers" [such as] telcos," the poster said.

This is not the first time Louis Vuitton has approached the courts to help defend its copyright and trademarks against counterfeiters. In July 2007, a the equivalent of $61 million for allowing the sale of fake Louis Vuitton goods and Christian Dior Couture on its Web site. While Louis Vuitton hailed that decision as a victory against online counterfeiting, eBay claimed that the lawsuit was more about Louis Vuitton protecting uncompetitive commercial practices at the expense of consumer choice and the livelihood of law-abiding sellers.

David Johnson, a lawyer specializing in digital media law with Jeffer, Mangels, Butler and Marmaro LLP in Los Angeles, called the verdict precedent setting.

"It's the first one in an Internet case where an ISP has been found liable for trademark infringement for failing to shut down a Web site after being given notice" of trademark infringing activities, Johnson said.

Under existing precedent (outside of the Internet realm) a plaintiff seeking to prove contributory trademark infringement needs to prove that a defendant intentionally and knowingly enabled another to infringe a trademark, Johnson said. In this case, the jury appears to have been convinced by the evidence presented by Louis Vuitton that the Web hosting companies had clear knowledge of the infringing activity, he said.