E commerce keeps growing and plays an important role for many businesses. But what can you do if you discover a potentially infringing or counterfeit version of your product for sale on an e commerce marketplace? Or what to do if somebody is using your trade mark in an e commerce listing to mislead consumers?
To protect your business and customers the very first step is to get the listings removed. The EUIPO has been working with a number of e commerce marketplaces to gather information on their IP protection tools to make it easier for you to take action and use the resources they make available.
What are the main IP protection tools and what do I need to use them?
- Notification systems: these allow you to report listings that are potentially infringing your IP rights. There are many different systems, including web forms that guide you step by step through the notification process, or forms that can be downloaded and sent by email. The precise information that is required might vary from one marketplace system to another. However, they typically require you to provide information about your company, your IP rights (e.g. trade mark registration number) and the allegedly infringing listings (e.g. URL). Make sure you have all information at hand to file your notification.
- IP protection programmes: these are put in place by a limited number of marketplaces to support cooperation with IP owners. They offer different functionalities, but typically provide a simplified process for you to notify any allegedly infringing listings and a dashboard to keep track of your notifications and their outcomes. They may also offer tools that facilitate searches for listings that may infringe your rights. You will likely be asked to register before you can join these programmes, as well as being required to provide detailed information about your company and your rights (e.g. trade mark registration number).
- Contact point: this is so you can get assistance in case you are facing an issue using a notification system or joining an IP protection programme. Conversely, some marketplaces do not have notification systems or forms, so any IP infringements may have to be reported by email, with no specific format, to the contact point.
Where can I find these tools?
So that you can easily find and access the tools, below you will find a list of e commerce marketplaces that have provided the EUIPO with information about and links to their IP protection resources.
Disclaimer: the EUIPO has engaged with a large number of e commerce marketplaces to gather information about their notification mechanisms and IP protection programmes. The objective is only to help IP owners access this information. The fact that a marketplace is listed on this web page cannot be construed as any form of endorsement of its activities or IP protection mechanisms by the EUIPO.
If a link does not work or you are experiencing issues accessing some of the information from the e commerce marketplaces, please contact ecommerce@euipo.europa.eu.
If you are an e-commerce marketplace and would like to add information about your IP protection tools to this page, please contact ecommerce@euipo.europa.eu.