USTR report: India unaffected as checking ‘notorious markets’ is a sovereign matter

India is unaffected by the inclusion of India-based online and physical markets, such as IndiaMART, Palika Bazar and Heera Panna, in the US Trade Representative (USTR) office’s 2021 Notorious Markets List for allegedly facilitating trade in counterfeits, as protecting intellectual property is a sovereign issue and the Indian government has already been acting against infringements, a source has said. “As the US is an important trade partner, its concerns are always taken note of. But regulation of IP and its infringement is an internal and sovereign matter and India will solely determine how it is to be addressed. The problem of counterfeits, that is prevalent worldwide, is being addressed in India with great seriousness,” the source told BusinessLine.

Notorious Markets List

The 2021 Notorious Markets List (NML) identifies 42 online markets and 35 physical markets that are reported to engage in or facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy. It includes Indian e-commerce website IndiaMart and physical markets such as Palika Bazar in New Delhi, Heera Panna in Mumbai, Fancy Market in Kidderpore, Kolkata, Tank Road in Delhi.

In a detailed response, IndiaMART refuted the allegations stating that its only a discovery platform and no actual transaction takes place on its marketplace. It also said that it prohibits posting or transmission of content related to counterfeit products on the marketplace.

The leading B2B marketplace said it has been included in the report as a “notorious marketplace” unilaterally without any prior communication and without giving it an opportunity to respond to the allegations made in the report. “..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,” the statement said, adding that due to Covid-19, the redressal system turn may have been impacted slightly. “This list is not to be taken seriously. Why does it include India Mart which is just a technology platform? And why doesn’t the USTR talk about US-based powerful entities such as Facebook which have become platforms for advertising counterfeits and fakes? Markets like Palika have been cleaned up of counterfeits long back, but they continue to be featured,” another source said. The list of alleged notorious market is part of the pressure building tactics employed by the US to get countries to make changes in their IP regime favourable to American companies, a Delhi-based trade expert said. “This entire exercise of naming and shaming is designed to put other countries on the back foot and pressurise them into framing their IP laws making them more favourable for big companies rather than consumers,” he said.

USTR justifies

The USTR justifies the exercise on the ground that commercial-scale copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting cause significant financial losses for US right holders and legitimate businesses, while undermining critical US comparative advantages in innovation and creativity. “A goal of the NML is to motivate appropriate action by the private sector and governments to reduce piracy and counterfeiting,” the report said.

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