“Counterfeit goods can allegedly be found in large volumes on Indiamart, including counterfeit pharmaceuticals, electronics, and apparel,” the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) said in a report. “Right holders are concerned with Indiamart’s failure to adequately implement anti-counterfeiting best practices, including seller verification, penalties against known sellers of counterfeit goods, or proactive monitoring of infringing goods.”
A goal of preparing the list, according to the report, is to motivate appropriate action by the private sector and governments to reduce piracy and counterfeiting.
“Indiamart, apparently, has a notice-and-takedown system, but right holders report that it is burdensome to use,
the time-to-takedown is slow, and the status of notices is not transparently communicated to right holders,” the report said.
In response to ET’s query, Indiamart said it is a “law-abiding company” and strictly believes in non-tolerance of any misuse of its website for illegitimate or illegal activities.
“Our grievance redressal system is robust and efficient, which allows users to send complaints via the website, and in lieu of such complaints, the redressal is forwarded to the said advertiser for diligence. This is done to comply with the true spirit of the law and equal opportunity is given to all content advertisers,” said the statement from Indiamart.
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It alleged that USTR published the report without informing the company nor did it give it the opportunity to respond to the allegations.
“We will get in touch with them to seek details of instances which led them to believe that our process is lax in this regard,” Indiamart’s statement said.
Among the other online platforms named in the notorious market list are China’s Alibaba, Taobao, Pinduoduo and Wechat, Indonesia’s Tokopedia and Singapore’s Shopee.
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