Delhi High Court has slapped a $39 million fine on Amazon in a trademark violation case on Wednesday. This comes after a single-judge bench of Justice Prathiba Singh ruled that the American e-commerce giant infringed upon the ‘Beverly Hills Polo Club’ trademark, according to the Bar and Bench report.
The brand that violated the trademark was owned by Amazon Technologies and sold its products on Amazon India’s e-commerce platform, the court mentioned.
“The logo which has been used is hardly distinguishable,” the court observed.
What’s the case against Amazon?
The case was initiated by Lifestyle Equities against Cloudtail India and Amazon in 2020. The company alleged that Amazon Technologies is manufacturing and selling products under the brand name “Symbol”, which violated their trademark. It also claimed that Cloudtail India was using Amazon Seller Services to sell its products that carried that contested mark.
Earlier in the case, the Delhi HC had granted an interim injunction to Amazon. The court had asked them to refrain from using the logo and selling products that carried the contested trademark. Following the injunction order, Cloudtail India agreed to abide by the order.
The parties then took a route to settle the matter via mediation. Amazon pulled itself back from the liability to pay damages, citing that as per the Amazon brand license and distribution agreement, Cloudtail alone should pay the damages to Lifestyle Equities. Lifestyle Equities argued that the violation of the trademark wasn’t covered under the brand license agreement, and hence, both Cloudtail and Amazon were entitled to pay damages.
Due to these disagreements between the parties, the case landed back with the court. The court ruled against Amazon, highlighting the role of Amazon Seller Services as an intermediary.
