Delhi court tells e-commerce site to check for Louboutin counterfeits
The High Court of Delhi has directed Indian e-commerce platform Darveys.com to ensure that each product sold on its platform is not a counterfeit, in a case brought by luxury brand Christian Louboutin.
On Friday, November 2, Justice Pratibha Singh issued a number of directions to Darveys which included the disclosure of the details of its sellers.
Louboutin took Darveys to court, claiming that impaired or counterfeit Louboutin goods were being sold on the platform, which resulted in trademark infringement.
The brand also accused the platform of using the image of Christian Louboutin, the founder of the Louboutin, and the names “Christian” and “Louboutin” as meta-tags to attract traffic to the site.
In 2014, the Delhi court granted interim relief to Louboutin, ordering Darveys to stop selling Louboutin products.
Over the next four years, Darveys fought the case and late last week, the court removed the stay and allowed the platform to sell Louboutin items.
Darveys had sought protection under section 79 of the Information Technology Act, which offers a safe harbour to intermediaries. However, the court found that Darveys’ policies show that the e-commerce site is exercising “complete control” over the products and that Darveys was not an intermediary.
“Darveys.com is in fact identifying the sellers, enabling the sellers actively, promoting them and selling the products in India. The role of Darveys.com is much more than that of an intermediary,” said the court.
After finding the site was outside of the safe harbour, the court issued a number of directions, including ordering the site to obtain a certificate from sellers that the goods they sell are genuine.
If the sellers are in India, then Darveys should enter into an agreement with them, guaranteeing authenticity of the products and specifying the consequences of a violation of this.
If the sellers are not based in India, Darveys has to notify Louboutin and obtain its permission before selling the products.
In addition, the court directed the removal of the meta-tags and specified that if Darveys is notified of a counterfeit product, it needs to take down the listing (if the seller can’t prove it is genuine) and notify Louboutin.
Singh said: “In the world of e-commerce, IP owners face challenging times. This is because sellers of counterfeit or infringing products seek shelter behind the platform’s legitimacy, like in the case of Darveys.com."
The judge added that in such cases, giving exemptions under section 79 would amount to legalising the infringing activity.
A spokesperson for Darveys said: "The court removed the blanket stay and allowed us to again be able to sell Louboutin products on the basis that Darveys has always been and will always be committed to selling genuine items, which are not some special criterion for Darveys but just the general law of our country and various other norms which are already followed by our company."
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