An Indian court on Wednesday ordered Amazon to pay $39 million in compensation for trademark infringement by selling clothing with the same brand name as the Beverly Hills Polo Club on Amazon's Indian website.
Indian lawyers said the ruling was landmark. Earlier, an antitrust investigation in India found that Amazon violated competition laws by giving preferential treatment to certain sellers on its Indian website, but Amazon denied the accusation.
The trademark case was filed in 2020 by Lifestyle Equities, the owner of the "Beverly Hills Polo Club" (BHPC) trademark, which alleged that Amazon's Indian shopping site listed clothing with a similar logo at a fraction of the price of the brand.
India's Delhi High Court said the infringing brands were owned by Amazon Technologies and were sold on Amazon India's website.
"The trademarks used are difficult to distinguish," the court noted in the 85-page ruling. The ruling also included photos of T-shirts comparing the two trademarks.