Well-heeled: Former US First Lady Melania Trump with her pair of Louboutin shoes
Amazon may be responsible for the sale of counterfeit Louboutin shoes, a top court has ruled.
In cases brought in Luxembourg and Belgium in 2019, Louboutin said third parties were selling inauthentic versions of its distinctive red-soled shoes, a protected trademark, to unsuspecting Amazon shoppers.
The European Court of Justice, in a preliminary ruling this week, agreed that Amazon’s website did not make it clear enough when customers may be purchasing goods from a third party, rather than directly from the ecommerce giant.
The ruling clears the way for Amazon to potentially be held liable for adverts for counterfeit products sold on its site. Amazon is in dispute with Louboutin, whose high heels can fetch at least £600.
The case will now be handed back to the lower courts for a final judgment, and is likely to have repercussions for how Amazon displays and sells products from third parties.
Thierry Van Innis, Louboutin’s lawyer, said the ruling followed its arguments ‘in every detail’. ‘Amazon will be forced to change its model and stop misleading the public by mixing up their own and third-party offers.’
He said Louboutin was not seeking compensation: ‘We’re not talking money at this stage. We want the breaches to stop.’
