Amazon sued by trucking company over use of 'Prime,' reports say

Panelists on Morning's with Maria discuss the Minnesota strike workers have planned against Amazon during its Prime sales event.

A trucking company is suing Amazon over its “Prime” shipping trailers.

The Missouri-based Prime Inc. filed a lawsuit in federal court last week against Amazon alleging the online retail giant’s Prime logo on tractor-trailers is “confusingly similar” to its own, USA Today reported.

The trucking company said that it has built up “substantial and valuable goodwill” with its Prime name and logo since at least 1980, according to the report.

Meanwhile, Amazon was founded during the dot-com boom of the 1990s and has only been labeling its shipping vehicles with "Prime" for a few years since launching its Prime membership with free two-day shipping.

Prime Inc. alleged in the lawsuit that Amazon’s use of "Prime" on the shipping vehicles caused “irreparable injury” because consumers could mistakenly blame Prime Inc. if they have a bad experience with Amazon, according to the report.

The trucking company notified Amazon of the trademark dispute more than two years ago, FreightWaves reported. Prime Inc. took the issue to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, but Amazon has continued using the name on its shipping vehicles.

The lawsuit alleges that Amazon misrepresented how it planned to use the Prime logo on trailers, according to the report.

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An Amazon representative didn’t immediately respond to a FOX Business request to comment.

Prime Inc. uses its logo on 12,000 trailers, USA Today reported.