INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
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The court case surrounded unlicensed sales of Davidoff perfume - but the ruling
should set a precedent
Amazon has been given the all-clear by the European Court of Justice after a legal battle over the
sale of bottles of unlicensed Davidoff perfume.The German arm of beauty company Coty - which owns the Davidoff brand - went to court in a
bid to stop Amazon storing and delivering the unlicensed products
Coty claimed Amazon, which sold the products on its Marketplace platform, was breaching its trademark rights.The ruling should set a
precedent with regard to third-party merchants online.Coty alleged that Amazon had violated its trademark rights by stocking its Davidoff
perfume for third-party sellers and should be held responsible for such practices
with sellers typically paying a fee to make use of the online giant's warehouses and logistics
Customers are often unaware they are not buying the products directly from the US firm.Amazon has previously said that it sells more
physical goods via Marketplace sellers than directly to customers itself
The growth of the trade has seen it face claims of enabling the sale of counterfeit and unsafe goods in the past.During the coronavirus
pandemic, the US retailer has also had to tackle profiteering on medical supplies and adverts for fake cures on Marketplace
"Amazon continues to invest heavily in fighting bad actors on our store and is committed to driving counterfeits to zero," a spokesman
said."German courts have ruled in our favour in the first two instances of this proceeding, and based on our initial understanding of the
judgement, we welcome the decision from the ECJ."
