The European Court of Justice has sided with luxury brand Louboutin in a lawsuit against Amazon.
Reached for comment Thursday morning (Dec. 22), an Amazon spokesperson told PYMNTS the company “will study the court’s decision.”
Later, the spokesperson followed up with this addition: “Amazon makes it clear to customers who they are buying from when they are shopping in our stores by displaying seller information.”
According to an Associated Press (AP) report Thursday, Europe’s top court ruled the retailer could be held responsible for advertising knockoffs of the pricey red-soled shoes that made their way onto the platform.
“These circumstances may indeed make a clear distinction difficult and give the impression to the normally informed and reasonably attentive user that it is Amazon that markets — in its own name and on its own behalf,” the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) said.
The ruling, which comes as Amazon is working to expand its Luxury Stores project while also dealing with regulatory pressure in Europe, stems from a 2019 lawsuit by Louboutin.
That’s when the French luxury brand sued Amazon in Belgium and Luxembourg, saying the retailer routinely advertised red-soled shoes without the shoemaker’s consent.
According to Thursday’s court ruling, it is up to those two national courts to decide whether Amazon shoppers could have been under the impression that the ads for the shoes came from the retailer itself and not third-party sellers.
A previous ruling sided with Amazon, with Advocate General Maciej Szpunar at the CJEU saying the company “cannot be held directly liable for infringements of the rights of trademark owners taking place on its platform as a result of commercial offerings by third parties.”
The court decision comes one week after reports that New York-based luxury fashion house Oscar de la Renta was using Amazon in lieu of fashion weeks to attract customers.
The company has found that by streaming shows on Amazon and displaying its goods at off-season shows, it can reach clients directly, while industry events such as fashion weeks only reach industry buyers and fashion media.
“Our industry has a problem keeping up with the Joneses,” said Oscar de la Renta CEO Alex Bolen. “I have no business spending that kind of money on a fashion show to sell clothes.”
Amazon Luxury Stores debuted two years ago as an invitation-only offering to eligible Prime members that began with the fall/winter 2020 line of Oscar de la Renta.
Amazon has since expanded the concept to European markets and added brands in the U.S.
This week also saw Amazon reach a settlement in a pair of antitrust investigations in Europe by agreeing to give third-party sellers more space on its site.
Under the deal, Amazon will offer third-party merchants an equal chance of being picked as a default option in its “Buy Box” to qualify for Prime shipping.
In addition, the retailer has agreed not to use non-public data about independent sellers’ activities on its marketplace to boost its own retail business.
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