After the Flipkart-Nikon tussle, there’s another marketplace-brand clash in the ecommerce space. Luxottica Group, which owns Rayban eyewear brand, has taken online marketplace Shopclues to court for the following (alleged):
Last week, Shopclues was pulled up by the Delhi High Court for continuing to sell Rayban products, thus breaching its order. Through injunctions and orders, the court had earlier directed the etailer to stop selling the brand’s products on its side. Despite this, fake products were advertised and sold in the brand’s name.
While the case hearing was on, the judges accessed the website to find listings of the banned products. “This is clearly against the letter and spirit of the interim injunction,” the court order said.
Surprisingly, this is what Sanjay Sethi, cofounder and CEO of Shopclues, had to say in defense, “We cooperate with brands on a daily basis to help keep the site clean of counterfeits. Through our ShopClues intellectual property protection programme, or SCIPP, we make it very easy for brands and rights owners to reach out to us and to protect their IP.”
The basis of selling in the online space is the ease and convenience of offering a multitude of products to customers. But just like there is a flip side to every good thing, malpractices like the sale of counterfeit goods started increasing in the online space.
While we can keep debating on who should take responsibility of these malpractices – sellers or marketplaces, fact remains that it is difficult to weed out the wrongful ones. Etailers have very stringent policies in place to keep them in check, despite which many worm their way into the seller base and keep selling fake products till they are blacklisted.
It is of course unethical to sell fake products to customers. As a seller, remember that it is not worth the risk of getting blacklisted. Stay clear of any malpractice and keep a healthy online selling track.
After dwindling with her family business, into travel and hospitality, for more than 3 years, Pooja Vishant found her true love in writing. Happy-go-lucky and cheerful, she loves pink; so pink is the way to go if you want to get into her good books. The Associate Editor keeps track of even a leaf that has moved in the ecommerce world!
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