Trademark infringements and online platform liabilities

Due to the advanced development of online shopping in China, trademark rights holders will regularly carry out notarized purchases on online platforms, whereupon they will institute legal actions naming the online platform and infringer as co-defendants. In recent years, the probability of online platforms being sued in trademark and unfair competition cases has increased year by year. What legal liability can be pinned on online platforms in trademark infringement and unfair competition cases? And how is the bearing of such liability to be determined?

To determine the liability that an online platform ought to bear in a trademark infringement and unfair competition case, it is first necessary to clarify the circumstances under which it can be sued, and the legal basis. Generally speaking, in trademark infringement and unfair competition cases, there are three circumstances under which online platforms are sued.

In the majority of circumstances, the online platform is sued as the online service provider, but in certain cases there are also rights holders that will demand that the online platform directly bear liability for trademark infringement and unfair competition.

Frank Liu is a partner and Zhu Jiannan is an associate of Jincheng Tongda & Neal