As Amazon continues to position itself as a powerhouse fashion company, it’s even going after the little guys in court. According to The Australian, the e-commerce site is opposing the registration of the name “Glamazon” by Perth, Australia-based clothing retailer Live Clothing.
The clothing company consists of 100 staff members, and certainly isn’t in the same league as global retailer Amazon, which nonetheless considers its trademark extension a threat. When Live Clothing looked to extend its Glamazon and Glamazon the Label trademarks to cover undisclosed retail services, including clothing retail, Amazon made its presence known.
Daniel Kovacs, principal lawyer at KCL Law, spoke to The Australian about the reasons behind the legal action. He speculated Amazon “did not want to tolerate Live Clothing using or claiming exclusive rights in the marks Glamazon and Glamazon the Label for retailing services broadly.”
“It is also possible that Amazon does not want Live Clothing to be able to use these marks for retailing of clothing specifically,” he continued. “In addition, it may want to prevent Live Clothing registrations that might in [the] future pose impediments to Amazon registering its own Amazon mark in related categories.’’
Kovacs went on to say that Amazon’s future success in court would depend on whether the trademark office considers Glamazon too similar to Amazon’s trademark, but he said it’s definitely not a “clear-cut case.”
It’s tough to say which way this court decision will go, but we’re wondering if this is the new normal for Amazon’s fashion empire. If aggressive legal action is the e-commerce giant’s new game plan, its going to lead to a lot of shakeups in the industry.
