An American court has found in favour of Amazon in a case that could have important implications for companies whose trademarks and products are illegally copied and sold on the internet.
The ruling means the onus is on the trademark owner to prove there has been an infringement. Manufacturers will need to prepare supporting documentation to get their trademarks removed from ‘marketplace’ sites, where companies such as Amazon process transactions but do not directly sell goods.
This case follows a similar court decision in 2010 that Ebay was not infringing on trademarks by allowing a brand name to be listed for goods that were shown to be counterfeit. Ebay did remove the listing when instructed to do so by the original brand owner.
It would seem these decisions would also apply to other trading websites, including those where counterfeit goods are known to be sold.
In the Amazon case, the court ruled the company was not guilty of trademark infringement when it did not immediately remove a listing for hair straighteners, which were counterfeit, that were advertised with a trademarked brand name.
Amazon claimed it was waiting for the brand owner to provide evidence of an infringement before removing the listing. The court accepted this, and concluded that Amazon is free to use registered brand names in its product listings because it is not the direct seller, as long as it does not knowingly advertise counterfeit products.
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