Keeping it brief this week in the light of the holidays … The Court of Justice of the European Union has issued a highly anticipated decision in two cases centering on the advertisement and sale of fake Louboutin footwear on Amazon, finding that Amazon, itself, may be deemed to be “using” another party’s trademark in connection with the advertisement of infringing goods and thus, be liable for infringement as a result. The combined cases, which were initiated by French footwear brand Christian Louboutin in district-level courts in Luxembourg (C-148/21) and Belgium (C-184/21) back in 2019, asked the CJEU to determine whether – and, if so, in what conditions – the operator of an online marketplace may be found liable under Article 9(2) of the EU Trade Mark Regulation 2017/1001 for the display of advertisements of infringing goods.
In a decision dated December 22, the CJEU found that an online sales platform – like Amazon – may, in fact, be liable for trademark infringement based on its “use” of another’s trademark in advertisements promoting third-party infringing goods displayed on its site … You can find a deeper dive into the CJEU’s opinion right here.
(c) Cases — Our running list of paparazzi v. celebrity cases is starting to ramp up again after slowing to a crawl during COVID. This week, paparazzi photog Robert O’Neil made some interesting claims in his complaint against Bella Hadid, including that he “personally selected the subject matter, timing, lighting, angle, perspective, depth, lens and camera equipment used to capture the image.”
Some other quick updates …
– Ryder Ripps lodged a notice of appeal to the 9th Cir. after a C.D. Cal. judge shot down its anti-SLAPP motion in the trademark case waged against him by Yuga Labs.
– A SDNY judge reconfirmed its Dec. 2 “bottom line” order in adidas v. Thom Browne. You can find the full opinion/order here.
– Off-White withdrew its opposition to Walker Wear’s WW mark in the wake of the parties reaching a settlement in a related infringement suit.
And in case you missed these funding rounds …
– Beni announced the close of a $4M seed round for its resale browser extension tech, led by Buoyant Ventures, bringing its funding from both its pre-seed and seed rounds to over $5 million to date.
– Frasers Group acquired shares in premium fashion brands of JD Sports for about 47.5 million pounds ($57.7 million), as the British retail group continues move upmarket premium market.