Weekly news updates for the E-commerce and Licensing domain.
Google once again ventures into E-Commerce
After previously having tried to follow Amazon’s model for an E-commerce platform and being unsuccessful, Google is once again keen on venturing into E-commerce services. Through its second take at launching an E-commerce platform, Google intends to mainly compete with Amazon, which has thrived by offering digital space to small retailers. However, Google will challenge Amazon’s market position by offering an alternative digital market space to retailers and other small business owners.
Google’s E-commerce platform would have features that will allow visitors to use photos to search for nearby retail products or find any item in the physical world with the click of a camera. Visitors will also be able to go from merchant listings on Google search, to their checkout pages in one click.
New framework identifying fraud reviews on E-Commerce sites
In light of the issues raised by various stakeholders, with regard to bought reviews and unverified reviews on E-commerce websites, the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has stated that the government will be developing a new framework to identify such fake reviews. The new framework will be developed, based on a review of the existing mechanism followed by E-commerce entities in India and the global best practices. Shopping on E-commerce platforms is a virtual experience and consumers cannot physically test the products before making the purchase. Fake reviews on E-commerce platforms is therefore a crucial problem that has to be resolved, since consumers purchase products by relying on the previous online reviews.
The Union Ministry also mentioned some of the difficulties that are faced with regard to detecting fake reviews, which includes traceability to authenticate the reviewer and the platform’s associated liability. The new framework will aim to resolve these issues by discussing the same with the E-commerce entities, to determine the manner in which they select the most relevant reviews to be displayed on the website.
Swiggy to enter the E-Commerce domain
The popular food delivery application, Swiggy, will now launch a new service called ‘Minis’ on the existing Swiggy app. Through this service, Swiggy will enter the E-commerce domain by onboarding D2C (Direct to Consumer) brands, small businesses and individual entrepreneurs. This will allow small business owners and entrepreneurs to display their products and services on a larger platform, which will provide the consumers direct access to such products.
Swiggy intends to make the Minis platform accessible on a national level, unlike Instamart, which is operating at a hyperlocal level.
Multi-film Licensing deal between Amazon Prime and Nadiadwala Entertainment
Amazon Prime Video and Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment (NGE), have recently signed a multi-film licensing deal, which will allow Prime Video users to access the next six films from the NGE stable, including Bawaal, Sanki, Baaghi 4, among others, following the theatrical releases of these films.
The same films can also be rented by the users on Prime Video’s recently launched pay-per-view service in the ‘Early Access Rental’ window.
Google to sign Licensing deals with Indian publishers
Following Google’s previous licensing deals with publishers, news and content creators, the search engine giant is now pursuing Indian publishers to make such content accessible on its platform. Considering India to be an important market, Google is looking forward to sign several licensing deals with publishers in India, and to pay the publishers for using their material and content.
Further, with reference to the previous issues that the government has had regarding the extent of immunity being granted to social media platforms for the content published by them, Google has stated that it is aware of the rules laid down by the government to regulate such online content. The search engine giant confirmed that, it will adhere to these regulations and will discuss the same with the government for better clarity, in order to ensure the appropriate implementation of such guidelines.
Authored and compiled by Neharika Vhatkar (Associate, BananaIP Counsels)
This post is brought to you by BananaIP Counsels’ Trademarks and Copyright Attorneys
About BananaIP Counsels’ Trademarks and Copyright Attorneys
The E-Commerce and Licensing News Bulletin is brought to you by the Trademark and Copyright Division of BananaIP Counsels, a Top ranked IP Firm in India. Led by Sanjeeth Hegde, BananaIP Counsels’ trademark attorneys are among the leading experts in the field. If you have any questions, or need any clarifications, please write to [email protected] with the subject: E-Commerce and Licensing News Bulletin.
The E-Commerce and Licensing News Bulletin initiative is a part of their pro bono work and is aimed at spreading awareness about intellectual property and allied laws. You are free to share the news with appropriate attribution and link back to the source.
Disclaimer
Please note that the news bulletin has been put together from different sources, primary and secondary, and BananaIP’s reporters may not have verified all the news published in the bulletin. You may write to [email protected] for corrections and take down.
