Trademark Infringement Dispute Over Search Results Won By Amazon

The trademark infringement claim by watchmakers MultiTime Machine (MTM) has been dismissed following a ruling in favour of online retailer Amazon. In our previous blog Trademark Infringement Trial Of Amazon Over Search Results, we commented on the zero success rate of similar disputes and the ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court continues this pattern.

In short, the court held that Amazon does not violate the Lanham Act when, instead of notifying the consumer who is searching for “MTM Special Ops” that those products are not sold, it simply offers competing products sold under different brands.

As the National Law Review reports, the decision in this case weakens the “initial interest confusion” doctrine in the Ninth Circuit and will likely be perceived as a significant victory for online retailers.

MTM Special Ops remains visible within Amazon’s search box and nothing on the page indicates that Amazon does not actually sell the expensive military-style MTM products.

The case is MultiTime Machine, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc.

Read the full National Law Review Article here.