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ARTICLE · 29 NOVEMBER 2017

Luxury Goods: Protecting Their Brand Image

Mishcon de Reya LLP
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Mishcon de Reya LLP

Mishcon de Reya LLP

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With online sales now integral to many retail businesses, the issue of whether luxury goods suppliers can stop goods which qualify for selective distribution from being sold via third party platforms such as Amazon and eBay is more important than ever.

United KingdomAntitrust/Competition Law
Andrij Jurkiw
Andrij Jurkiw

With online sales now integral to many retail businesses, the issue of whether luxury goods suppliers can stop goods which qualify for selective distribution from being sold via third party platforms such as Amazon and eBay is more important than ever. Advocate General Wahl recently issued his non-binding Opinion (discussed in our bulletin) on this issue in the Coty case, saying that suppliers of luxury goods can stop them from being sold via third party platforms in order to preserve their brand image.  The big question is whether judges at the European Court of Justice will follow this when they decide the case, with the decision coming out on 6th December 2017.

The Coty case comes at an interesting time given the Commission's sector inquiry into e-commerce and its Final Report (discussed in our recent bulletin) which considered, amongst other practices, absolute marketplace (platform) bans. The Commission concluded in its Report that the importance of

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