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As everyone who often watches the live streaming knows that some internet sensations or anchors on major e-commerce platforms will sales or promise to sell some copycat products orinfringing products. Although the platforms have some supervision, due to the current non-standard rules of live broadcasting and different regulations in different platforms, copycat products and fake products continue to crop up in live streams.
In response to the chaos, the China Advertising Association (CAA) issued Code of conduct for network broadcast marketing on June 24, 2020, which will come into effect on July 1, 2020. The contents of intellectual property rights and unfair competition protection are as follows:
Article 17 The product and service information released by businesses shall be true, scientific and accurate, and shall not carry out false propaganda, cheat or mislead consumers.
Article 25 In the live broadcast activities, the anchor shall ensure the authenticity and legality of the information, and shall not conduct false publicity on commodities and services, or deceive or mislead consumers
Article 31 The operators of the network live marketing platform should operate according to law and fulfill the obligations of consumer rights protection, intellectual property protection, network security and personal information protection.
This specification proves from one side that the current chaos of the prevalent fake products/ copycat products in the broadcast room, and also shows the determination of the industry to regulate it. In this environment, the brand side should also actively safeguard their own legitimate rights and interests. Hereto, we offer the following Suggestions
If the announcer is found selling copycat products/fake products or conducting other unfair competition behaviors during or before the live streaming:
- Complain to the e-commerce platform (if any), ask to take down the live broadcast, and freeze the live streaming rights of the anchor
- Notarized the purchase of relevant products, and notarized the video content. After we obtain the evidence of the actual sale behaviors of the anchor, we shall file a lawsuit against the anchor and the product provider.
If the announcer is found selling copycat products/fake products or conducting other unfair competition behaviors after the anchor finish the live streaming:
- Complain to the e-commerce platform (if any), request to delete the video, and freeze the live streaming rights of the anchor
- Notarize the video, especially the sales quantity. If the sales quantity or actual sales behavior cannot be confirmed, we shall contact the anchor, and notarized purchase the relevant products. Finally, a lawsuit shall be filed against the anchor and the product provider.
As a very popular and new way of sales, live to sell goods is lack of specifications. Therefore, all brands should pay more attention to the protection of intellectual property rights in this direction, protect their legitimate rights and interests and maintain their own goodwill. In an era of rapid development, the way to protect intellectual property rights should also be fashionable.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
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