Counterfeit Goods and Hidden Links: Supreme Court Sides with adidas

Further to the previous report in respect of the case of Diana Zohar v. Meta and adidas^1,2, the Supreme Court recently rejected the appeal filed by Diana Zohar and upheld the ruling of the Tel Aviv District Court, which determined that Zohar employed sophisticated methods to conceal the sale of counterfeit goods, including using hidden links in order to advertise and promote the sale of counterfeit goods. For the sake of illustration, it was proved that when trying to purchase adidas shoes through Zohar’s website, one was redirected to the AliExpress seller who, instead of presenting the adidas shoes, presented a generic item, such as sofa bed or men’s shorts, alongside a list of shoe sizes.

Interesting to note that the case was initiated by Zohar, whose Facebook’s groups were blocked as a result of a complaint submitted by adidas arguing that Zohar was infringing adidas’ trademarks by advertising and promoting the sale of counterfeit goods bearing the adidas trademarks. Zohar subsequently filed a claim against Facebook and adidas, along with a motion for interlocutory relief to unblock her social media groups. adidas then filed a counter claim for trademark infringement.

Eventually it was proven beyond any doubt that Zohar used the social media groups as well as her website to advertise and promote the sale of counterfeit products by various sellers operating under AliExpress. It was further proved and held by the District Court that the mere scheme of hidden links through which Zohar and the actual seller operated under the radar of the web enforcement measures is prima facie evidence to the fact that the goods advertised and promoted are indeed counterfeit.

In its decision the District Court of Tel Aviv noted that “In the end, it [Zohar operations] turned out to be a negative factor that contributed to and even disseminated online content and publications that infringed upon the rights of top-tier brands, such as the defendants in this case, particularly in matters relating to intellectual property.”

In its decision, the Supreme Court reinforced the District Court’s stance, emphasizing the importance of enforcing intellectual property rights on online platforms while ensuring a safe and infringement-free digital environment.

It is now clear that brand owners whose goods are sold through the hidden links scheme may more easily enforce their rights against advertising and promoting the sale of counterfeit goods through online platforms.

Adidas was represented by Gilat, Bareket & Co. team David Gilat, Orit Gonen, and Alexandra Cohen.

1. https://www.worldtrademarkreview.com/article/new-precedential-judgment-offering-product-sale-through-hidden-link-presumed-unlawful ↩︎
2. https://bit.ly/49Nmr3V ↩︎