BackBOYA files plea against e-tailers for selling fakes
The petition has been filed against 46 entities including several e-commerce firms as well as their sellers on the respective platformsThe brand also sent the accused e-commerce entities legal notices, bringing the matter to their purview, before moving to court
PremiumBengaluru: Shenzhen Jiayz Photo Industrial Ltd, the Chinese owner of BOYA wireless microphones and accessories, has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court aga-inst Flipkart, Amazon India, Paytm Mall, Tata Cliq and Snapdeal for allegedly selling fake versions of its products.
The firm moved the court against 46 entities, including e-commerce firms and their sellers. According to the petition, the e-commerce platforms were duping customers by selling fakes of BOYA products, harming the brand’s reputation and goodwill following growing customer complaints.
Mint has reviewed a copy of the petition. At the first hearing last week, the HC passed an ad interim injunction, barring entities from selling the products on e-commerce sites.
To verify customer complaints, Shenzhen Jiayz also placed test orders from the seller entities on the e-commerce sites with products having the same serial numbers.
“Our client BOYA found that a list of reputed e-commerce entities have been selling fake products under its brand name, with no procedures put in place to restrict the sale of these fake products, cheating customers," said Lal Singh Thakur, advocate, Lal Singh Thakur and Associates, representing BOYA.
“We approached the Delhi High Court on the matter and asked for immediate removal of these 42 sellers from the accused e-commerce platforms," the lawyer added.
The brand also sent the accused e-commerce entities legal notices, bringing the matter to their purview, before moving to court. Now it is taking stock of the total fake units sold by e-commerce entities and their sellers, asking for a compensation worth ₹2.5 crores collectively, Thakur said.
“Flipkart marketplace is an intermediary as defined under Information Technology Act, 2000 and only provides an online marketplace platform for the sellers and buyers to engage. We ourselves do not buy or sell products on our platform and it is the actual seller who sells the products. The issue of whether the products sold by the Sellers are fake or genuine is sub-judice and will be adjudicated by the Hon'ble Court. It is a dispute between the plaintiff and the sellers and Flipkart has no role in it," said a Flipkart spokesperson in a written response to Mint’s queries.
Flipkart also clarified that it has complied with the court order dated 10 February to delist certain URLs and added that it has not received any legal notice from the plaintiff in this regard.
Snapdeal said that it has complied and taken down the required listings.
“Snapdeal has a robust anti-counterfeiting program, “Brand Shield, which incorporates a takedown process for listings flagged by brands as being counterfeits. In this case Snapdeal took down the listings by the named sellers upon being notified of the case even prior to the Hon’ble Court’s order," said a Snapdeal spokesperson.
Paytm Mall did not respond to queries.
While, Amazon India said that it strictly prohibits the sale of counterfeit products.
In January, there was a police probe against founders of social commerce platform Meesho Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal for retailing fake products on their marketplace.
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