Case comment : Lifestyle Equities Cv & Anr. vs Amazon Technologies, Inc
Amazon’s repeated trademark infringement has cost amazon once again to no one’s surprise. The Delhi High court has fined Amazon 339.25 crore for the infringement of the logo of the Beverly Hills Polo Club (BHPC). Amazon was selling clothes with a logo similar to Beverly Hills Polo Club (BHPC) logo at a cheaper rate and the Court has ruled it as a violation of India’s trademark law. With this case, now the e-commerce platforms will be under thin ice and even greater legal scrutiny for trademark infringement.
Understanding E- Infringement
The plaintiffs ( Lifestyle Equities C.V. and Lifestyle Licensing B.V.) filed a suit against defendants ( Amazon Technologies Inc., Cloudtail India Private Limited and Amazon Seller Service Private Gateway) for the trademark infringement of their Beverly Hills Polo Club logo. They claimed that the defendants were using their publicly known logo and brand value in order to earn profit and misled their consumers into believing they were buying original Beverly Hills Polo Club products at a cheaper rate. The plaintiffs called out the defendants for this cheap and dirty tactics to rip them off and claimed permanent injunction against the defendants along with damages. When customers googled to buy the products from Beverly Hills Polo Club (BHPC), they found products on amazon at relatively very cheaper prices and amazon defrauded them by using a logo similar to BHPC logo in order to psychologically manipulate the customers into believing that they were buying original products of Beverly Hills Polo Club (BHPC).
On 2th October, 2020, despite the advance service, Amazon Technologies Inc. failed to appear before the court while the other two plaintiffs appeared. Subsequently, on 20th April, 2022 the court proceeded ex parte against Amazon Technologies Inc. and directed Cloudtail India Private Limited and Amazon Seller Service Private Gateway to present an affidavit stating their relationship with Defendant No. 1. Ultimately, On 2nd March, 2023 due to repeated non appearance of defendant no. 1 and admission of Cloudtail India Private Limited to suffer an injunction and pay damages, the court ruled in the favour of the Plaintiffs.
The Delhi High Court concluded in its judgement and held Amazon India liable for the ‘willful and deliberate’ trademark infringement of BHPC’s trademark. This strict approach by the court will serve as a precedent for other e-commerce platforms trying to escape liability of not removing infringing content from their platforms.
Key Legal Principles Involved
Section 29 of Trademark Act, 1999 will be applicable for the infringement of Beverly Hills Polo Club trademark by the a brand ‘Symbol’ owned by Amazon. Also, keeping in mind the Intermediary Guidelines under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, under which the e-commerce platforms have to not only listen to complaints for infringing content by the sufferers of it but also keep a vigorous check on its platform for any kind of infringing content and remove it. In the instant case, the fact that the product logo which was infringing the Beverly Hills Polo Club trademark was of a brand ‘Symbol’ owned by Amazon itself makes it all the more worse. The court slammed Amazon for not just failing to monitor and remove the infringing content but insead having a helping hand in the same.
Rationale behind court’s decision
- The brand selling the products with the logo similar to Beverly Hills Polo Club (BHPC) logo was owned by Amazon technologies themselves and sold via Amazon India.
- The court concluded that it found no difference between Amazon technologies’ owned ‘Symbol’ brand ‘slavishly imitative’ logo and BHPC logo and found the Amazon technologies’ owned ‘Symbol’ brand logo to have been clearly infringing the trademark of Beverly Hills Polo Club (BHPC) trademark.
- The court held that this trademark infringement by amazon can’t be claimed as accidental but it was clearly intentional as similar matters related to this were going on in Uk especially considering the recent decision of the U.K. Supreme Court on 6th March, 2024 in the case of Lifestyle Equities v. Amazon U.K. Services Ltd., [2024] UKSC 8’.
Legal Implications
- E- Commerce Platforms being held accountable- The heavy fine by the Delhi High Court will set an example of how the e- infringement by the e- commerce platforms will not be ignored and will be punished strictly even more so when it is ‘deliberate and willful’ infringement.
- Increased Consumer Awareness about deceptive logos- The customers have to pay the cost of this deceptive use of logos along with the victims of the trademark infringement. Now, consumers will be even more so careful while making any purchases.
- E- Infringement of trademarks- There will be no leniency by the court regarding the E- Infringement of trademarks and the Delhi High Court has made that quite clear by showing no mercy and holding Amazon India accountable.
Court has granted a permanent injunction against amazon from using the infringing trademark again and ordered to pay Rs 292.70 crore as damages, Rs 43.32 crore towards advertising and promotion expenses, and Rs 3.23 crore towards litigation expenses. This is the highest ever fine laid down by court in India in a trademark infringement case in India as amazon was not only providing an e commerce platform for the sales of products with a logo similar to Beverly Hills Polo Club (BHPC) logo but amazon itself was producing these products while using its platform to boost the sales and earn revenue. This landmark judgement by the Delhi High Court will serve as a reminder for other e-commerce platforms not to misuse their platform and be held accountable for trademark infringement being done via their platform.
Author: Garima Agarwal, in case of any queries please contact/write back to us via email to chhavi@khuranaandkhurana.com or at Khurana & Khurana, Advocates and IP Attorney
References
- Lifestyle Equities Cv & Anr. vs Amazon Technologies, Inc. CS(COMM) 443/2020
- https://www.bananaip.com/amazon-trademark-infringement-verdict-336-crore/
- https://indiankanoon.org/doc/38072391/
- https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2022-0108
- https://www.candcip.com/single-post/e-commerce-and-counterfeits-court-takes-strict-stance-on-amazon-s-intermediary-liability
