Global luxury brands in India up in arms against online fakes

As etailing flourishes and online shopping reaches Tier II, III cities, import of fake and grey market products of high-end luxury labels like Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Jimmy Choo has been on the rise. Now these labels are putting in efforts to stop such illegal imports by negotiating with top online platforms. At the same time, some brands don’t engage in e-shopping at all but their fakes are entering the online space.

One such website, Darveys.com, has caught the attention of brands such as Jimmy Choo, Judith Leiber and Christian Louboutin, which have initiated legal action against the startup to stop it from selling their products online in India. Luxury French shoe and bag designer Christian Louboutin has filed a case against the platform for “infringement of trademarks, publicity rights, passing off, unfair competition, dilution, damages, rendition of accounts and delivery up against the defendants”.

To stop fakes eroding the online business, big e-tailing are putting in efforts. Indiatimes for example, has tied up with all known brands directly in the country and every product that has risk of fakes comes with a certificate of authentication from the brand. Some other big online shopping sites such as Flipkart, Myntra and Snapdeal, too have started extensive screening of products sold as well as sellers using their platform, to ensure they are not illegal.

The counterfeit luxury retail market in India is likely to double to Rs 5,600 crores by 2015 and steps such as effective intellectual property enforcement are the need of the hour to curb this menace, an Assocham study says. “Corrective measures need to be taken to lock down the emergence and existence of counterfeit goods market in the form of effective intellectual property enforcement, plugging loop holes in the legal and judicial structure and higher conviction rates,” Assocham Secretary General D S Rawat said.