The European Union's top court says that luxury brands may ban sales of their products on online platforms like Amazon to preserve their aura of exclusivity.

The Court of Justice ruled for the German luxury cosmetics group Coty, of Calvin Klein and Marc Jacobs fame, which sought to keep its products from selling on non-authorized digital sale platforms.

The EU court said Coty's effort to limit distributors "is appropriate to preserve the luxury image of those goods," adding that "it does not appear to go beyond what is necessary." Coty wanted to ban a distributor from selling its products on Amazon.de.

The Computer and Communications Industry Association said the ruling was "bad news for consumers who will face fewer choices and also less competition when they want to shop online."