Published Paper Details:

Over the passage of time, there has been an enormous growth in the rise of E-Commerce platforms in India as it has brought numerous benefits, such as better consumer access to a wide range of goods and services with the convenience of online shopping. Hence, it has become imperative for businesses to protect their brand in the digital world through trademark protection. As the buying and selling of goods and services takes place via electronic means thus, it is being termed as e-commerce. It creates a direct link between the manufacturers/sellers and consumers, making it convenient for distribution and ensuring free and continuous transfers. However, the prevalence of counterfeit products, parallel importation of goods, sale of defective products, etc., has led to trademark infringements in these direct transactions which has in turn hindered the growth of e-commerce in India and is gravely affecting the digital economy as well as the overall integrity of the online marketplace. Counterfeited goods refer to the act of producing emulated goods that provide a much degraded quality and are manufactured and sold under another company's trademark without any prior consent or approval. This is done to deceive consumers into believing that they are purchasing genuine products. When such goods are sold on e-commerce portals, they bear unauthorized reproductions of the registered trademarks. This plays with the distinctiveness of the original brands and puts the consumers in a dilemma leading to trademark infringements. The anonymity of these online transactions makes it a challenge to identify the parties and hold them accountable for their actions. E-commerce portals provide a vast range of access and ease for such producers to set up online shops, which not only reduces the verification process but targeting audiences also get easy by way of e-commerce platforms which in turn, amplifies the impact of their illicit acts. While the 2009 amendment to Information Technology Act, 2000 clarified intellectual property rights issues in the cyber law, the unresolved issue of secondary liability for a third-party trademark infringement poses a significant challenge. Hence, by way of a non- doctrinal research the researcher aims to delve into the concept of secondary liability of e-commerce platforms in India, the US and the UK by doing a comparative analysis of the judicial pronouncements given in this matter, to identify the responsibilities and liabilities of these e-commerce portals when it comes to selling and offering of counterfeited products. Collaboration between the e-commerce portals, rights holders and government agencies can prove to be very effective in curbing counterfeiting. With the help of growing AI, bots can detect and prevent the listing of such counterfeit goods. By way of these technologies, seller behaviors and product specifications can be studied and analyzed, thereby decreasing the chances of trademark infringement. The research explains the twisted challenges of counterfeiting, shedding light on the complexities of protecting trademark rights in the online marketplace. Through this study, proposed amendments to existing legislation will be examined to curb trademark infringement on e-commerce portals. The result underscores the need for a solidly built enforcement mechanism, associated efforts between the stakeholders, law enforcement agencies, intellectual property rights holders, etc., and the enhanced consumer awareness campaigns to control this rapidly growing menace.