Source: Forbes«»

Last Thursday, on December 22, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), issued a ruling on the complaint of the French brand Louboutin against the e-commerce giant Amazon, claiming that the e-retailer may have incurred in trademarkinfringement by marketing red-soled shoes, which could be imitating elements thatare protected as registered trademarks in the European jurisdiction.

It should be recalled that, the company of designer Christian Louboutin filed two suits in Belgium and Luxembourg against Amazon, alleging that the American company made «unlawful use» of its trademark for placing products «identical» to its own and stressed that the controversial ads appearing on the platform «form an integral part of the commercial communication» of the American company.

For this reason, the Court considered that in this case the users of the shopping platform have the impression that the ads in question do not come from third parties but from Amazon directly, so it is appropriate to consider that it is the latter who uses the disputed symbol in the context of its own communication.

However, it left open the possibility for each national jurisdiction, in this case in Belgium and Luxembourg, to determine whether the online retailer should have controlled the advertising.

Finally, the CJEU pointed out that in order to reach a conclusion, the national courts considering the case must take into account that Amazon uses a “uniform method” of presentation of sales offers published on its website, displaying both its own and third-party sellers’ advertisements and displaying its own accredited distributor logo, while offering additional services from third parties.