New educational guides aimed at preventing intellectual property rights´ infringements at Mercado Libre
E-commerce has gained ground over traditional commerce, a trend that not only has no turning back but is being accelerated by the COVID 19 pandemic.
Mercado Libre (“MELI”) is one of the platforms with the greatest penetration in e-commerce in Argentina and other countries within the region and, as such, it constitutes a means in which trademark infringements are being multiplied to the extent of reaching the point in which a considerable increase of violations can be found in publications of mass consumer goods.
Aware of this problem MELI has implemented a claim mechanism called “Brand Protection Program” (“BPP”) that simplifies the defense of our clients’ intellectual property rights and has recently added a new proposal within its “Educational Program” called “Brand Recommendations”. This new initiative enables trademark owners to make and publish at MELI practical guides that will be available to its users to educate on proper and improper uses of their trademarks.
Based on our experience on the BPP, we believe that these educational guides can be a useful tool aimed at preventing infringements committed by those who act in good faith but are unaware of the fact that their acts constitute a trademark infringement. A typical publication that our surveillance team regularly reports is one in which it expressly clarifies that the product “is not original” or is derived from the use of terms such as “type” or “similar to”.
It is important to emphasize that it is only allowed to mention the trademark when the product is original and that it is prohibited to use a third party’s trademark to promote products of other brands even if the seller clarifies that “it is not original” or they are “type” or “similar to”. Although these clarifications make it possible to warn consumers that the product is not original, this resource constitutes a trademark infringement as it diverts consumers to publications of competitors’ products and also dilutes the distinctive power of the brands.
In view of the above, we welcome this new initiative of MELI and recommend its use to discourage infringements as well as MELI´s BPP as a mechanism to report infringements of intellectual property rights.
At Ojam Bullrich Flanzbaum we provide online monitoring services aimed at controlling intellectual property rights in e-commerce platforms and social networks in Argentina as well as in the other countries of the region. We will be very pleased to advice you on this matter.
For further information please contact: pmcaraffa@ojambf.com
