A recent decision of the CJEU (Tommy Hilfiger Licensing LLC and Others v Delta Center a.s. C-494/15 ) has helped widen the options for many retailers seeking to curb brand infringements.
The decision itself relates to market stalls and establishes
that operators of physical marketplaces can be forced to take
active steps to curb trade mark infringements made by market
traders using their facilities. However, in order to understand the
wider implications of the case it is first necessary to look at an
earlier decision of the CJEU in 2011 involving proceedings brought
by L'Oreal and others against eBay (Case C-324/09L'Oréal and Others).
The L'Oreal case concerned litigation brought by a number of
brand owners in order to establish that operators of online
marketplaces, such as eBay, had obligations in certain
circumstances to prevent sellers using their facilities to infringe
third party intellectual property rights. As part of its decision
the CJEU determined that
