In its decision of August 22, 2023 (14c O 67/23), the LG Düsseldorf ruled that Amazon is liable for an infringement of a Community design offered by third parties on its marketplace.
In this regard, the LG Düsseldorf states that a claim against Amazon under the Community Design Regulation (Art. 19 (1) CDR) is justified in the present dispute, since it, as the operator of its online sales platform Amazon.de, which in addition to the Amazon Group’s own sales offers also includes an online marketplace for third parties with uniformly presented offers, uses for itself the design performance protected in the infringed injunction design. In this respect, it can be assumed that also within the framework of the fully harmonized Community design law, liability as a perpetrator replaces the previous participant and interferer liability.
Although the decision is an interim order and can still be appealed, it nevertheless breaks new ground and assumes that the case law of the ECJ “Louboutin” (trademarks; C-148/21 and C-184/21) must also be applied in Community design law.
This offers completely new possibilities to take action against design infringing products on online platforms. If you are faced with such an infringement, our experts will be happy to assist you.