Luxury shoe designer Louboutin faces defeat at the European Court of Justice

The luxury shoe designer Christian Louboutin is threatened with defeat in the European Court of Justice in a dispute over the protection of intellectual property with the online giant Amazon. Advocate General Maciej Szpunar found in an opinion published on Thursday that Amazon cannot be held directly responsible for the rights of a trademark owner being violated by third-party offers on its platform.

Louboutin’s most well-known goods are elegant red-soled women’s shoes. The Frenchman has registered the red color of the outsole as a protected trademark in the EU, among other places. However, Amazon regularly shows advertisements for red-soled shoes that are being marketed without Louboutin’s consent. The designer also sees his trademark rights being violated by Amazon and has therefore sued the company in Belgium and Luxembourg.

Advocate General Szpunar now argued that the fact that there are both Amazon and third-party ads on the platform does not automatically mean that “a reasonably informed and reasonably observant Internet user” accepts the characters shown in third-party ads as part of commercial communications can perceive from Amazon. Although the ads are uniformly designed, it is always stated whether the goods are sold by third parties or Amazon.

A verdict in the case is expected in a few months. The judges often follow the appraiser’s assessment, but not always. (dpa)