UK indie takes on Amazon in court

The copyright battle between Amazon and award-winning UK independent production company Kindle Entertainment (KE) is due to go to court this month.

Kindle Entertainment’s kids’ show Hank Zipzer

The European arm of the US e-commerce giant is taking London-based KE to court on October 20, claiming the Hank Zipzer producer has infringed the trademarks protecting its Kindle digital book readers and tablets.

Amazon wants the production company to change its name, but KE, which also produces series such as Dixi and Jamillah & Aladdin for the BBC, has stood its ground. The court’s judgement is due on December 1.

The disagreement has been simmering away for the past few years now and KE has previously compared Amazon’s behaviour during the row to that of a “playground bully” and said it cannot afford to change the name of the company.

KE was founded by former ITV Kids execs Anne Brogan and Melanie Stokes in 2006 and launched in early 2007, months before Amazon began selling Kindle in the US and more than two years before the device went on sale in the UK.

However, Amazon registered the Kindle trademark in 2006 for a range of goods and services, including entertainment.

KE has been named best independent company at the Children’s Bafta awards in the UK three times in the past five years and attended MipJunior and Mipcom recently with UK trade body Pact.

Amazon said it had no comment to make on the case while Kindle was unable to speak about the matter.