E-Commerce & Internet law

The internet has revolutionized the ways in which business is conducted and brands generate revenue and it has also become possible for companies to expand their operations quickly and effectively conduct business across many different countries, cultures, and continents. But on the other hand, the same technologies in the hands of fraudsters and criminals have made brands very vulnerable and extremely profitable for brand abusers to hijack well-known brands online. Counterfeiters set up similar websites containing their famous trademarks and logos and other intellectual property in order to divert traffic and brand abusers who register domains containing their famous trademarks to capitalize on their hard-earned reputation. Brand abusers can also hijack search engine marketing, infiltrate social media and impersonate famous and well-known brands to divert web traffic to competing sites and sell fake and pirated goods.

Cyber abusers register domain names that are identical or deceptively similar to well-known marks and try to sell these domains to the original trademark/brand owners for high costs. In some cases, the abusers may also try to represent themselves as the owners of the particular brand and replicate the website and may also attempt to do business through the cyber squatted domain name in order to generate revenue. This results in severe dilution of the brand and erosion of consumer confidence and trust.

Infringements on social media sites and registering of sub-domains or creating accounts in the name of well-known brands of business houses are also major becoming problems for trademark owners as it results in dilution of brand value, warranting take down actions.