OR Skroutz announced that it will take further legal action against Meta Platforms, Inc. in response to the continued misuse of its trademark and logo on popular platforms Facebook and Instagram.

As the company states in its announcement, “for almost a year now, unauthorized pages on the social media in question have been using the Skroutz logo to display false advertisingsuch as offers for “undeliverable boxes” and very expensive products sold for as little as 2 euros”.

In detail, the Skroutz announcement states:

Skroutz, the most popular online shopping platform in Greece, announces its decision to take further legal action against Meta Platforms, Inc., in response to the continued misuse of its trademark and logo on Facebook and Instagram. For almost a year now, unauthorized pages on the social media in question have been using the Skroutz logo to display fake ads, such as offers for “undeliverable boxes” and overpriced products sold for as little as €2.

This phenomenon is not only limited to Skroutz but affects every day dozens of brandscausing harm to consumers and damaging business credibility. From the outset, Skroutz’s legal team followed the reporting process mandated by Meta to address and eliminate this problem. However, the Meta’s response was inadequatelimited exclusively to reactive measures, such as delete pages upon petition by the affected companies, a process that has proven ineffective.

After months of unsuccessful efforts to resolve the issue through dialogue and Meta’s procedures, Skroutz was forced to seek legal protection.

The Court of First Instance of Athens issued a ground-breaking injunction decision (no. 6280/2024), applying the Digital Services Regulation (DSA), obliging Meta to:

  • To stop any infringement of the intellectual property rights (trademarks, distinctive features, domain name) of Skroutz and to refrain from any future infringement.
  • To withdraw from its platforms all false advertisements using the Skroutz logo.
  • To prevent the creation of pages that include Skroutz distinctive features in their content.

The decision is also binding a fine of 3,000 euros and one month’s personal detention of Meta’s legal representatives in Ireland for any breach of the decision. It is worth noting that since the decision was issued, the company has recorded more from 150 trademark violations to date on the Facebook platform.

Protecting our brand and our customers is our absolute priority, says Skroutz co-founder Mr. Augustidis. “While we recognize the complexity of the problem, Meta’s continued inaction has left us with no choice but to resort to legal action to ensure our users’ trust and security, as well as the integrity of our reputation.”.

Despite the court order, Skroutz remains on alertas well the misuse of trademarks and similar practices continue to appear on META’s social media platforms, affecting other businesses as well. The company collects data every day to prove that the problem is big enough to warrant immediate action by Meta.

Skroutz remains committed to protecting its customers, partners and reputation and will continue to take legal action to put an end to this phenomenon as soon as possible.”