Do E-Commerce Platforms Provide Safety to Trademark Owners against Infringement?: A Comparative Study between India and China

This research paper contributes to the study of trademark infringement on e-commerce platforms and its liability within the jurisdictions of India and China. Due to the growing population and commercialization, creative ideas and their implementation become more prominent, which calls for additional protection of trademarks and the rights of the proprietors. China holds the world’s largest e-commerce platforms and India as a developing country, has outgrown itself in terms of technology and online shopping. Many brands would smoothly migrate to Indian platforms just to promote their products because India has the second-fastest growing e-commerce sector after China. Trademark infringement is pretty common anywhere in the world unless strict liability has been imposed if anyone tries to infringe on an already existing trademark. In the 21st century, with the fast growth in technology and means of communication, there has been a drastic shift from offline to online shopping mode. This surge was especially noticeable during the COVID-19 pandemic, when we were not allowed to go outside or shop. Customers notice the sale of counterfeit products under the name of infringing trademarks but often take the risk of making a purchase. Though the real proprietor, under whom the infringing trademark activities are carried out, suffers more loss than the customer when the product received is of inferior quality or damaged. China, though a developed country, is still not able to completely tackle infringement on e-commerce platforms completely. The question this raises is: how are e-commerce platforms held liable for any infringement taking place on their platform and why must India soon tackle infringements taking place online?