2017 years 12 month, European Court of Justice (Court of Justice) adjudication, From the perspective of competition law, Coty The German company has the right to ban members of its distribution network from selling its luxury perfumes on Amazon's e-commerce platform.

　　This year 4 month 2 day, The European Court of Justice ruled No C-567/18 adjudication, The dispute involves sales on Amazon's e-commerce platform Coty Corporate perfume products. but, In this case, Coty The company is taking direct aim at Amazon, But the verdict did not go his way.

　　Coty The German company sued Amazon in German courts, The action alleges that it is against Davidoff The rights to the brand perfume have not been exhausted, Therefore, Amazon's behavior of storing the perfume product infringes its trademark rights. The storage act at issue in the case, It was created by Amazon for the use of Amazon Germany "Amazon Market" A service provided by a third-party vendor that sells goods on the board.

　　The suit was dismissed in the first instance. Coty The company is not satisfied with the judgment of first instance, To the German Federal Court of Justice on legal issues in the judgment (Bundesgerichtshof) appeal. The Court of Appeal asked the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling, Clarify whether the storage act at issue in this case constitutes "Eu trade mark regulation" The first 9 Use of trademarks as stipulated in this Article. specifically, The appeals court is not sure, Whether the conduct at issue in this case constitutes "Eu trade mark regulation (The first 2017/1001 No) " The first 9 (3) (b) The trademark use listed in this article, That is the prohibition of third parties "Promise to sell, Put on the market, Or store it for that purpose" Goods affixed with another person's trademark.

　　The European Court of Justice ruled in this case, First of all to reiterate its previous jurisprudence (2011 years 7 month 12 day L' Oreal Case regulation C-324/09 Number judgment) Conclusion in: The person who uses another person's trademark on the e-commerce platform is the seller of the relevant goods, Rather than the operator of the platform.

　　As for Amazon, it offers storage services to third parties that sell goods on its platform, The European Court of Justice held that, Based on information provided by the appellate court, The goods in question are not owned by Amazon itself, They are sold or marketed by third parties. The European Court of Justice further stated, It can be seen that, Amazon does not use the disputed trademarks in its own commercial activities. Therefore, The above actions of Amazon do not constitute "Eu trade mark regulation" The first 9 The case of the rule.

　　Finally, The European Court of Justice stated that, These conclusions are not excluded, From the perspective of other legal norms, the possibility of the legality of the platform operator's behavior involving the third-party trademark rights is examined, especially "European Parliament and Council on Norms (European Union) Internal market for information society services, In particular, the directive on specific legal issues of electronic commerce (The first 2000/31/EC No) " The first 14 (1) article, or "Directive of the European Parliament and the European Commission on the enforcement of intellectual property rights (The first 2004/48/EC No) " The first 11 bar. but, although Coty The company raised these issues in its appeal, But the Court of Appeal did not ask the European Court of Justice to rule on the issue, Therefore, The European Court of Justice does not examine the issue here.

　　To sum up, Whether or not storage services are provided for the goods in question, The European Court of Justice has ruled against sellers who violated the trademark rights of others by using Amazon's online sales platform, Amazon is not directly liable for infringement. but, The court did not rule out the possibility of infringed trademark rights holders seeking liability from Amazon under the provisions of the EU directive. For that matter, Need to pay attention to the above mentioned 2011 years 7 month 12 The European Court of Justice of Japan vs L' Oreal Resolution of case C-324/09 Number judgment, Which is aimed at eBay The same problem of platform is analyzed in detail.

　　compile: Liu Dan, Esabarry Legal Counsel　　source: Esabaril (ELZABURU) Intellectual property rights