Trademark Infringement – Good Faith and Presumption of Damages

This case started with the filing of precautionary measures, including the attachment, inventory, description and seizure of goods performed in Mr. Bustos’ premises where the defendant sold clothes containing the abovementioned trademarks without authorization from The Polo Ralph Lauren Company LP.

The First Instance Court’s decision was appealed by Mr. Bustos, alleging that, on one hand, he acted in good faith as he did not know where the infringing products came from and that he had stopped using the plaintiff’s trademarks. On the other hand, Mr. Bustos argued that the plaintiff had not suffered any damage at all taking into account the reduced amount of clothes sold in the searched premises as well as the low price of the products involved.

The court decision stressed the defendant's bad faith and that Mr. Bustos had lied about the amount of infringing products he had sold. Moreover, the Federal Court of Appeals repeated its standing position on the presumption of damages in trademark infringement cases and highlighted that the low price of the infringing products did not rule out damages.

This decision shows the impact of bad faith, presumption of damages and damage to legitimate interest in trademark infringement cases.