In a preliminary ruling on Thursday, Europe’s highest court said that online retailer Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) could be held responsible for advertising fake Christian Louboutin shoes that made it onto its platform.
The EU court said that it is now up to the two national courts to decide if this is really the case.
Louboutin sued Amazon in two courts in 2019: one in Belgium and one in Luxembourg. He said that Amazon regularly advertised red-soled shoes that were sold without his permission.
The red sole that is Louboutin’s trademark is registered as a trademark in the EU. Both courts asked the Court of Justice of the European Union, which is based in Luxembourg, for help.
In its ruling on Thursday, the EU court said that Amazon, which is the biggest online store in the world, could be held responsible for the intellectual property violations caused by the ads for fake products with Louboutin’s trademark red sole.
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The court said this is because the way the ads are shown on Amazon’s website could lead people to think that Amazon, not a third-party seller, is in charge of the ads and making money from them.
Amazon didn’t answer right away when asked for a comment.
Louboutin’s lawyer, Thierry Van Innis, said that the European court had paid attention to “every detail” of the designer’s case.
“Amazon can be held responsible for the problems as if it were the seller itself… “Amazon will have to change their business model and stop misleading people by combining their own offers with those of other companies,” he told Reuters.
Van Innis said that Louboutin was not looking for money right now. “We haven’t talked about money yet. “We want there to be no more breaks,” he said.
