Introduction
Unsurprisingly, the combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and global lockdowns has resulted in increased consumer shopping online. To capture that increased demand, retailers have invested in both their website infrastructure and marketing budgets. Consumers now have no geographical limits on where they view and purchase goods. An unintended consequence of this is that it has shone a spotlight on the tension between trademarks which are territorial and online marketplaces which are not.
Challenges for trademark owners
The challenge for trademark owners is that a global website could offer goods for sale under a mark which infringes a national trademark. The website owner may not be based in the same country as the national trademark, but consumers that are based in that country can access the website and purchase the goods. To succeed with a trademark claim, there are several conditions that must be satisfied depending on whether the mark and goods or services are identical, similar or dissimilar. However, all types of infringement require the use of the infringing mark to be within the relevant territory covered by the trademark.