Judgment of infringement in e-commerce platforms: understanding the rules and protecting intellectual property rights

From 2012 to 2021, the scale of my country's e-commerce has leapt to a new level, providing a strong driving force for economic and social development. In the past ten years, the size of my country's e-commerce market has grown from 7.85 trillion yuan in 2012 to over 42 trillion yuan in 2021. The market size has increased 4.36 times, an increase of 34.28 trillion yuan, and the transaction scale has increased from 1.310 billion yuan to 13.1419 billion yuan. , increased by 9 times, and the number of e-commerce employees increased by 3 times from 17 million to 65.3 million. Comprehensive e-commerce platforms such as Taobao, JD.com, and Pinduoduo have become indispensable online shopping platforms for everyone’s daily life. People have become dependent on online shopping in all aspects such as food, clothing, housing, and transportation. E-commerce platforms have become It has become an important platform for enterprises and individuals to conduct business. However, the ensuing infringement issues have become increasingly prominent. It is crucial for operators to correctly judge infringements on e-commerce platforms. So, what kind of behavior can be considered as infringement?

First, we need to understand some basic judgment criteria. On e-commerce platforms, common infringements mainly include:

1. Copyright infringement, such as illegally selling pirated books, pirated software, pirated audio and video works, and pirated Internet knowledge products without permission;

2. Trademark infringement. Some e-commerce companies use other people’s trademarks or company names in their own products, packaging, and promotional publicity to make profits without the authorization of the trademark owner. This not only constitutes infringement, but also if the seller sells similar products, will constitute unfair competition;

3. Copyright theft. This form of infringement is very common in the operation of e-commerce stores. For example, using the product page of one's own store to steal other merchants' product descriptions, product pictures, videos, etc. without the owner's permission;

4. Patent infringement. The products involved in patent infringement are usually hot-selling products on the market, or have high technological content. Merchants use the patented technology or design when manufacturing or selling products without the permission of the patentee. Make a profit.

The above behaviors will not only cause consumers to get lost, but also damage the brand image and the rights and interests of the originator. Therefore, e-commerce operators should abide by intellectual property laws, regulate their own business practices, and must not engage in behavior that infringes on the rights and interests of others.

Secondly, in order to better protect their own rights and interests, e-commerce operators should actively understand the rules and policies of the platform. Different e-commerce platforms have different regulations and processes, and handle infringements differently. Generally speaking, e-commerce platforms will establish an intellectual property protection mechanism to receive reports and investigate them. Operators should keep abreast of the platform's regulations, actively report infringements, and communicate and cooperate with the platform to ensure that their own rights and interests are protected.

In addition to complying with laws and platform rules, e-commerce operators can also take some measures to proactively protect their intellectual property rights. First of all, it is recommended that operators register their own trademarks, which can effectively ensure the legality and exclusivity of the trademarks and reduce the possibility of counterfeiting by others. Secondly, operators can regularly monitor the market and take timely measures to protect their rights and interests when infringements are discovered. In addition, it is also very important to cooperate with lawyers or professional intellectual property institutions to carry out regular intellectual property training to improve one's own intellectual property awareness and protection capabilities.

The Page Code team has nearly 30 years of service experience in the field of intellectual property. It is good at solving various difficult problems in the process of intellectual property protection. It provides housekeeping services including patents, trademarks, copyrights, copyrights, etc. to help Clients achieve intellectual property protection on a global scale.

In the operation of e-commerce platforms, correctly judging infringements, understanding platform rules and protecting intellectual property rights are important parts of protecting the rights and interests of operators. E-commerce operators should abide by laws and regulations, comply with platform regulations, and proactively protect their intellectual property rights. Only through legal operations and effective rights protection can we achieve long-term and stable development on e-commerce platforms. We hope that the knowledge provided in this article can help e-commerce operators better understand infringement issues and protect their rights and interests.