HC directs e-commerce site to ensure products for sale on portal are not counterfeits
In a step towards ensuring counterfeits of popular branded products are not sold on online marketplaces, the Delhi High Court has directed an e-commerce platform to make sure that each item put up for sale on its site is genuine.
Justice Pratibha M Singh issued the direction, saying in the world of e-commerce, trademark owners face challenging times as sellers of infringing products seek shelter behind the platform’s legitimacy and added that those sites which “actively conspire, abet or aide, or induce” commission of unlawful acts, like sale of counterfeits, “cannot go scot-free”.
“In the world of e-commerce, intellectual property (IP) owners face challenging times. This is because sellers of counterfeit or infringing products seek shelter behind the platform’s legitimacy.“Moreover, if the sellers themselves are located on foreign shores and the trade mark owner cannot exercise any remedy against the seller who is selling counterfeits on the e-commerce platform, then the trade mark owner cannot be left remediless,” the court said. “Needless to add, e-commerce websites and online marketplaces ought to operate with caution if they wish to enjoy the immunity provided to intermediaries,” it said.
Intermediaries, according to the Information Technology (IT) Act, includes e-commerce sites as it is providing services to customers on behalf of another person, the seller.Under the IT Act, while inactive intermediaries have protection against infringing activities of the sellers “those e-commerce platforms which actively conspire, abet or aide, or induce commission of unlawful acts on their website cannot go scot free”, the court added.It said that if the counterfeits do not turn out to be up to the mark, it is trademark owner’s equity and customer base that is diluted or lost and the seller of such products does not suffer.The observations by the bench came on a suit of trademark infringement by women’s luxury shoe brand — Christian Louboutin — which claimed that India-based e-commerce site Darveys.com was selling “impaired or counterfeit” goods in the name of the firm.
