© Reuters. By Sam Tobin
LONDON (Reuters) – Amazon ( NASDAQ: ) lost an appeal on Wednesday against a ruling that it infringed UK trademarks by targeting British consumers on its U.S. website.
In 2022, London's Court of Appeal found that the tech giant had infringed trademark rights. Amazon appealed to the UK Supreme Court last year, which ruled unanimously that the retailer's US website “targets consumers in the UK”.
Amazon declined to comment on “ongoing litigation.”
Intellectual property advocates said the decision would affect all online retailers, who would now have to check their sites were not automatically targeting British consumers.
Amazon was first sued in London in 2019 by Lifestyle Equities, the owner of the UK and European trademarks for “Beverly Hills Polo Club”. The company's brands cover a wide range of products including apparel, luggage, watches and fragrances.
Lifestyle Equities claimed Amazon infringed US trademarks by selling its trademarks to British consumers through its US website, which Amazon denied.
In Wednesday's ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that Amazon's U.S. website automatically includes text boxes that say “Deliver to United Kingdom” when it detects a user is in the United Kingdom.
This means, according to the court, that “Amazon has effectively targeted the UK as a destination for UK-branded products” where the product is marked as available for delivery to the UK.
Lifestyle Equities is entitled to an injunction preventing further violations and potential damages, the court ruled.
Dennis Lee, a partner at BDB Pitmans, said the decision could lead to similar lawsuits against other online retailers.
Any site shipping to the UK “now needs to make sure it's not targeting UK buyers,” he said, or if it is, make sure the products don't infringe on UK trademarks. UK.
