The Delhi Excessive Court docket has awarded Way of life Equities damages of $39 million, roughly Rs 340 crore, after ruling that Amazon infringed upon its ‘Beverly Hills Polo Membership’ trademark. The order was handed by Justice Prathiba M Singh, and an in depth copy is awaited.
In line with a report in Bar and Bench, in 2020, Way of life Equities CV initiated a trademark infringement lawsuit in opposition to Amazon Applied sciences and others, alleging that they used a deceptively comparable mark on attire and different merchandise offered on their platforms. Particularly, it was claimed that Amazon Applied sciences was manufacturing and promoting merchandise below the model ‘Image’ with the infringing mark, and Cloudtail India was additionally concerned within the sale of those merchandise on the Amazon.in market.
The Excessive Court docket initially granted an interim injunction on October 12, 2020, restraining Amazon and others from utilizing the infringing emblem and directing Amazon Vendor Companies to take away the infringing merchandise from their platform. Amazon Applied sciences didn’t seem in court docket and was proceeded in opposition to ex-parte. The interim injunction was confirmed and made absolute, the report added.
In 2023, Cloudtail India expressed willingness to simply accept a decree of injunction and proposed a settlement involving damages, however mediation was unsuccessful. Cloudtail acknowledged utilizing the infringing mark from 2015 to July 2020, with income from infringing merchandise amounting to Rs 23,92,420 and a revenue margin of roughly 20 per cent.
The report acknowledged that Cloudtail’s counsel argued that damages must be solely its accountability, citing an Amazon Model License and Distribution Settlement that positioned legal responsibility on Cloudtail for any breaches. Nonetheless, Way of life contended that the infringing mark was not a part of this settlement and that each Amazon and Cloudtail must be held liable.
The court docket acknowledged Cloudtail’s admission of legal responsibility however emphasised that Way of life couldn’t be denied the chance to hunt damages from Amazon. Primarily based on the undisputed gross sales figures offered by Cloudtail, the court docket decreed the swimsuit in favour of Way of life in opposition to Cloudtail, awarding damages of Rs 4,78,484, representing 20 per cent of the income from infringing merchandise.
The court docket recognised Amazon Vendor Companies’ function as an middleman and their compliance with its instructions. Since no substantive reduction was sought in opposition to them, they usually agreed to take away any future listings of infringing merchandise, they have been faraway from the record of events concerned.
