There has recently been a notable increase in the amount of counterfeit products being commercialised through digital platforms.
In order to support owners whose IP rights may be infringed by such counterfeits, the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) Observatory has created a new portal(1) that provides information on the tools available to different online sales platforms (eg, Amazon, eBay, Alibaba and Facebook) to protect IP rights in internet commerce.
The main IP protection tools presented by the EUIPO are:
- notification systems – these systems enable owners to report the online publication of offers that could be infringing their IP rights. For this purpose, an online digital form or a downloadable form (to be sent by email) have been created;
- IP protection programmes – this tool enables rights holders to report any online sale publications that may involve the infringement of their IP rights. It includes a control panel through which users can check the status of their notifications and results and even locate possible publications that may infringe their rights; and
- contact point – this tool can be used either as an aid for reporting incidents that may arise in the use of the aforementioned tools or simply as a tool for sending warnings about allegedly unlawful publications by email.
With the use of these tools, owners will find it easier to trace and remove publications that may contain infringements of their IP rights.
In this way, e-commerce platforms aim to strengthen their collaboration with owners to combat counterfeit products that others may attempt to sell through such digital platforms.
For further information on this topic please contact Nuria Dominguez de la Torre at Grau & Angulo by telephone (+34 93 2023456) or email ([email protected]). The Grau & Angulo website can be accessed at www.ga-ip.com.
Endnotes
(1) For further information, click here.
