Trademark Coexistence on Amazon and Limitation by Acquiescence: a ruling by the Turin IP Court.

As specialists are well aware, limitation by acquiescence is a legal doctrine where a trademark owner loses their right to challenge a later, conflicting, trademark if they knowingly tolerate its use for a continuous five-year period. To invoke this defense, the owner of the later mark must prove the earlier owner was aware of the use and did not take legal action. This limitation is ruled out only if the application for the later mark was made in bad faith.

The IP Court of Turin addressed this matter in its recent judgment no. 4050/2025. The dispute involved two companies both operating in the paint and related products sector: one, the plaintiff, was the owner of the Italian word mark DULOX, registered as early as 1938; the other, the defendant, owned and had been using the later European Union trademark DULUX, registered in the ‘90s.