Lifestyle Equities v Amazon UK Services: targeted website sales infringed UK trademarks
Lifestyle Equities CVvAmazon UK Services
- Court
- Supreme Court
- Judgment
- 6 March 2024
- Citation
- [2024] UKSC 8
A website based outside the UK can still infringe UK trademarks if it's clearly aimed at UK shoppers.
Lifestyle Equities, owner of the BEVERLY HILLS POLO CLUB trademark, sued Amazon over branded goods sold through Amazon.com to UK shoppers. The Supreme Court ruled for Lifestyle, finding Amazon's site had been targeting UK and EU consumers.
What happened
Lifestyle Equities owns UK and EU trademarks for BEVERLY HILLS POLO CLUB branded clothing and accessories. Separate, unrelated companies based outside the UK lawfully sell similar branded goods under their own rights. Amazon sold these goods through its Amazon.com website, which UK consumers could browse, see priced in sterling, and have delivered to UK addresses. Lifestyle argued this amounted to trademark infringement in the UK and EU, even though Amazon.com was nominally a site based outside the UK and the sales technically completed outside the UK.
What did the court decide in Lifestyle Equities CV v Amazon UK Services?
The Supreme Court looked at the whole shopping experience on Amazon's website rather than just where the sale legally completed. Features such as the option to see prices converted into pounds, "Deliver to United Kingdom" messaging, and UK-specific shipping and pricing details meant an average UK shopper would reasonably think the site was aimed at them. That amounted to trademark use within the UK and EU, so Amazon infringed. The court dismissed Amazon's appeal, overturning the trial judge's opposite finding and agreeing with the outcome reached by the Court of Appeal, though not fully with its reasoning. Because targeting was established, the court did not need to decide a separate question about whether simply selling to a UK buyer, without any targeting, would also infringe.
What we learned from this
- What I'd take from this is that having a website based outside the UK doesn't protect a retailer if the actual shopping experience, currency, delivery options, UK-specific pricing, clearly points at UK customers.
- If your e-commerce site offers UK delivery, UK pricing or UK currency conversion, it's worth checking whether that could count as targeting UK consumers for trademark purposes.
- Holding identical or similar marks elsewhere doesn't give a business the right to sell into the UK if the UK rights belong to someone else.
- Online retailers selling internationally might want to review how their site presents itself to shoppers in markets where they don't hold the relevant trademark rights.
Things to be aware of
- This case turned on specific website features found to amount to targeting; a site without currency conversion or UK delivery messaging might be assessed differently.
- The Supreme Court didn't decide whether a sale to a UK buyer without any targeting would also infringe, so that question remains open.
- The goods themselves were genuine where they came from; the infringement came from how they were marketed and sold into the UK, not from being counterfeit.
The businesses involved
Lifestyle Equities CV
Owner of UK and EU registered trademarks for the BEVERLY HILLS POLO CLUB brand, used on clothing and accessories.
Amazon UK Services Ltd
Registered in England since 10 July 1996 and still active, with a registered office in London. It provides e-commerce and business support services as part of the Amazon group and holds no UK trademarks on the UK trademark register.
- Companies House
- 03223028 Active
- Incorporated
- July 1996
- Registered office
- London
- Business activity
- Other business support service activities n.e.c.
- UK trademarks
- 0
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This page is for information purposes only and does not constitute trademark advice or guidance. Summary drafted with AI assistance from the published judgment and checked by The Trademark Helpline (how we write these). Judgment: [2024] UKSC 8 on Find Case Law, published under the Open Justice Licence. Company details from Companies House; trademark counts from the UK trademark register. Last reviewed 26 October 2026. Report an error.
