Amazon slammed by judge in 'landmark' logo dispute ruling

Amazon has been fined a record $39M after a bitter trademark dispute with clothing brand Beverly Hills Polo Club (BHPC). The online retail giant was sued by Lifestyle Equities, owner of the Beverly Hills Polo brand in 2020, and now Amazon has not only been hit with one of the biggest damages fines by an Indian court, but it's also been slammed by a judge for what she described as "deliberate and wilful infringement”.

Under the brand name 'Symbol', an Amazon-affiliated seller called Cloudtail India sold apparel featuring a practically identical logo to BHPC. “The logo which has been used is hardly distinguishable," the Delhi High Court declared in the ruling last week. (Maybe Cloudtail should have taken a look at our guide on how to design a logo.)

The BHPC logo features an illustration of a polo player atop a horse, swinging a polo mallet. This in itself might not sound particular unique – the Ralph Lauren logo can be described in the same way. But 'Symbol's take on the trope is almost exactly the same as BHPC, and appears to be a silhouetted version of the same image.

According to Live Law, the court ruled against Amazon, despite the company trying to shift the blame onto Cloudtail. The ruling emphasised Amazon Seller Services’ role as an intermediary and holding it accountable for the infringement.

While handing down the record fine, Justice Prathiba M Singh decribed Amazon’s actions “deliberate and wilful infringement”. She also called the company's acrtions a “deliberate strategy of obfuscation, pretending to wear different hats – one as an intermediary, one as a retailer, and one as a brand owner – all in an attempt to shift responsibility and evade liability for trademark infringement.”

This is by no means the first logo dispute we've seen in recent months. From Ugg Boots to, er, Meghan Markle, you never quite know who's going to find themselves at the centre of a trademark battle next.