Delhi High Court Directs Etailers To Restraint Sale & Delist Fake Boya products

Delhi High Court Directs Etailers To Restraint Sale & Delist Fake Boya products

The Delhi High Court (HC) on 10 February 2021, passed an ex-parte order and directed the marketplace operators to take steps to delist the alleged fake products of the Boya-brand including microphones for smartphones, DSLR cameras, and recorders among other products.

The HC has restrained the sale of fake Boya-branded electronic products that are being sold on Flipkart, Amazon, Paytm Mall, TataCliq and other online marketing platforms. The HC passed the said order after the Chinese owner of this brand approached the Court, alleging that vendors are selling fake Boya products and accused them of indulging in fraud.

Shenzhen Jiayz Photo Industrial Ltd owns the brand Boya and they stated that it had sent legal notices to some marketplaces for restraining the sale of fake products before filing the Court case.

BOYA as a trademark is registered and owned by Shenzhen Jiayz Photo Industrial Ltd. It is a well-known manufacturer of electro-acoustic products. It started in 2007 and is located in Guanlan Silicon Valley in Shenzhen City and it specializes in microphones for DSLR Cameras, Camcorders, Audio recorders, etc.

It was stated by Shenzhen Jiayz that it holds since 2017 the India trademark for the Boya brand. The Chinese company further stated that their trademark is being violated by various sellers in India. It moved to the Court for seeking directions of restraining the sale of fake products of their brand in India.

The HC stated, "Balance of convenience is also in favour of the plaintiff," and "Accordingly, an ad-interim injunction is passed in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendants restraining the defendants, their directors, partners, proprietors, etc. or any other persons acting for and on their behalf to sell the products of the plaintiff using the mark 'Boya' or any other mark which is deceptively or phonetically similar to the plaintiff's mark or in any manner representing to be that of the plaintiff."

The online portal Snapdeal submitted that it has a vigorous anti-counterfeiting program that ensures immediate delisting of counterfeited products of the Boya brand.

The spokesperson of Snapdeal stated that "Snapdeal commits easy to take down process whenever listings are flagged by brands as being counterfeits." It was further added by the spokesperson that "Snapdeal took down the listings by the named sellers upon being notified of the case even prior to the Hon'ble Court's order."

There is no comment from Paytm Mall regarding the said issue yet.

Advocate Lal Singh Thakur who represented Shenzhen welcomed the HC's interim ruling. He stated that such rulings will help "safeguard the interest of the foreign multinational companies, their products, and brand value, gives the very strong message to the international business community and multi-national companies that their product, brand values, and business are very much protected from any illegal, bogus, fake, counterfeit product, in the name of original companies, manufacturers, in the interest of citizen of the country at large."