Zscaler Research has warned users about an illegitimate Amazon app. (Photo : Reuters)
A new ruling from the United States Court of Appeals states that Amazon will have to face a trademark lawsuit coming from a watchmaker accusing the company of giving users confusing result in its search results.
The lawsuit came from military-style watchmaker Multi Time Machine. The trademark allegation against Amazon was first filed in 2011.
Multi Time Machine manufactures military-style timepieces which are currently unavailable on Amazon's website. However, if a user searches for a Multi Time Machine product on Amazon's website, Amazon will display similar products coming from Multi Time Machine's competitors, instead of showing a message stating that it does not support the product.
The former claimed that Amazon's search results encourage potential customers to buy from one of its competitors instead of looking for its products in other retailers.
The lawsuit was initially ruled into Amazon's favor by a Los Angeles federal judge, according to Reuters. However, the ruling was overturned by the Ninth United States Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
Part of the court's official ruling reads, "We think a jury could find that Amazon has created a likelihood of confusion."
On the other hand, ninth Circuit Judge Barry Silverman defended Amazon's search result saying "No reasonably prudent consumer accustomed to shopping online would likely be confused as to the source of the products."
According to Engadget, this issue is not new especially in the online retailer market. In the United Kingdom, Amazon is facing similar issue filed by cosmetic company Lush accusing Amazon of giving out the same confusing search results.
