Delhi High Court Stays Ruling Asking Amazon To Pay ₹339.25 Crore To 'Beverly Hills Polo Club' Over Trademark Infringement

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday stayed a single judge ruling asking Amazon Technologies Inc to pay Rs. 339.25 crore damages and costs for trademark infringement of the luxury lifestyle brand, Beverly Hills Polo Club.

A division bench comprising Justice C Hari Shankar and Justice Ajay Digpaul pronounced the order today on Amazon's plea for stay on the ruling.

“The considerations outlined herein above make out, in our considered opinion, an exceptional case, in which it would be a complete travesty of justice to require the Appellant Amazon Tech to deposit, or secure, any part of the amount decreed by the impugned judgment, in order to maintain its appeal,” the Bench said .

The Court said that there was np specific finding by the single judge against Amazon Tech, identifying its role in the affixation of the mark Beverley Hills on the apparel sold by Cloudtail on ASSPL's online platform.

It added that the single judge's findings were largely generalized in nature, concentrating on the phenomenon of e-infringement and reflect a view that, if Amazon Tech desired, it could infringe, rather than that it did infringe.

Furthermore, the Bench said that it did not find any prima facie sustainable allegation of involvement, by Amazon Tech, in any infringement of Lifestyle's registered trademark.

“This, therefore, is not merely a case in which damages have been awarded against Amazon Tech without any finding, by the learned Single Judge, of involvement, in the alleged infringing activities, but is, in fact, a case where no such pleadings exist,” the Court said.

Amazon's main appeal has been listed for hearing on October 09.

About Single Judge Order

Remarking that Amazon's actions amounted to 'deliberate and wilful infringement', the single judge had observed that Amazon engaged “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.”

Lifestyle Equities C.V and Lifestyle Licensing B.V had submitted that they were the rightful owners of the Beverly Hills Polo Club (BHPC) registered trademark. They were engaged in business of manufacturing, distribution and sale of a wide range of products including garments, apparels, accessories, footwear, furniture, textiles, watches and other lifestyle and personal care products under the trademark 'BHPC'.

The BHPC trademark consists of a logo featuring a charging polo pony with a mounted rider wielding a raised polo stick, symbolizing the sport of polo. The plaintiffs stated the use of the mark and logo serves as a unique identifier of its brand and symbolizes its association with the sport of polo, luxury and premium lifestyle products.

The plaintiffs alleged that Amazon Technologies Inc. was dealing with apparel products under the label 'Symbol' consisting of a horse device mark almost identical to the BHPC logo device, amounting to infringement and unauthorized use. It was alleged that Cloudtail India Private Limited acted as a retailer of the infringing apparel products, making them available for sale on the Amazon website managed by Amazon Seller Services Private Limited.

On 12 October 2020, the Court had issued ad-interim injunction, restraining Amazon Technologies and Cloudtail India from infringing the impugned mark and had also directed Amazon Seller Services to take down the impugned products from its website.

On 02 March, 2023, the Court held that the plaintiff was entitled to a permanent injunction against Amazon Technologies from using BHPC logo in any manner.

The BHPC had claimed damages of USD 155.59 Million (INR1260 crores). Based on the pleadings and evidence, the Court was of the view that BHPC was entitled to USD 33.78 million of compensatory damages and an additional USD 5 million to compensate for the increase in advertising and promotional expenses. Furthermore, the Court had awarded Rs. 3.23 crore to BHPC for the cost of proceedings.

Thus, in total, the Court awarded BHPC Rs. 339.25 crore of damages and costs, to be paid by Amazon to the plaintiffs.

Title: Amazon Technologies Inc v. Lifestyle Equities

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