LVMH, the French luxury goods maker, has won a $32.4m award against a web hosting company and its backers in the US, marking a rare legal victory against an internet service provider tied to the sale of counterfeit goods by some of its customers.

The case, involving an internet service provider and web hosting company called Akanoc Solutions, breaks “significant new ground” by finding a technology company responsible for the activities of websites hosted in its data centres, said Eric Goldman, associate professor of law at Santa Clara University.