Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Court of Appeal (England and Wales) guidance: Amazon marketplace IPR complaints may amount to unjustified threats of patent infringement under s70 Patents Act (NOCO v Carku)

Published on: 19 January 2024

Published by a LexisNexis IP expert

Legal News

Article summary

The NOCO Company v Shenzhen Carku Technology Co Ltd [2023] EWCA Civ 1502

What are the practical implications of this case?

In this ruling, the Court of Appeal considered whether using Amazon’s Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) reporting mechanism could constitute a threat of infringement proceedings for the purposes of unjustified threats. Section 70 of the Patents Act 1977 requires an objective assessment: would a reasonable person understand the communication as alleging patent infringement? E‑commerce platforms typically provide IPR channels for rights owners to flag and seek removal of purportedly infringing listings. The court revisited these aspects to decide if the communications crossed the line into threats of proceedings for patent infringement. This judgment examined if a platform IPR complaint can amount to a patent threat, analysing the setting of the notifications, the nature of the defendant’s dealings with Amazon, and the specifics of Amazon’s IP Policy. The Court of Appeal’s guidance may likewise inform analogous issues raised via online IP complaint portals about trade marks and design rights under the Intellectual Property (Unjustified Threats) Act 2017.

What was the background?

NOCO and Carku were rivals in the manufacture of jump‑starters. From January 2020, NOCO lodged...

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