Amazon Web Services (AWS), a cloud service provided by Amazon, uses the AWS shorthand logo. However, a Chinese court ruled that the AWS trademark was not Amazon, and banned the use of the AWS logo in China.
According to reports, the Beijing Municipal People’s Court ruled that the AWS trademark belongs to a Chinese software data service company (ActionSoft Science & Technology Development Co.) instead of Amazon. Under the ruling, Amazon was banned from using AWS or similar logos in China and was ordered to pay 7,6.5 million yuan in compensation to ActionSoft.
The Chinese court issued the ruling in May 2020, but the ruling was announced on December 30th. According to foreign media, it is not uncommon for a Chinese court to differ by several months from judgment to announcement. Already, Amazon is responding according to the ruling. The Chinese version of the website does not use the AWS logo and is marked entirely (amazon web services). Also, at the bottom of the Chinese version of the website, there is a cautionary note stating that “AWS is an abbreviation for amazon web services, and there is no trademark displayed here.”
According to reports, ActionSoft registered its AWS logo as a trademark in 2004, eight years before it registered its logo with a smile on Amazon. ActionSoft appealed to Amazon in 2018, but insisted that Amazon has been using the AWS brand since 2002. Amazon is strongly opposed to the ruling and said it has appealed to the Supreme People’s Court.
Amazon emphasized that Amazon Web Services under the name of AWS developed cloud services before other companies’ competitors and distributed them to the world. Related information can be found here .