DELHI HIGH COURT PASSED RESTRAINING ORDER FOR 3 WEBSITES SELLING FAKE GS1 BARCODE NUMBERS
The Delhi High Court in a hearing in GS1 India vs. Bar Code SL & Ors. (CS COMM 147 by 2020) issued a landmark ad-interim order to block and suspend the domain name and website: www.free-barcodes-shop.com. www.indiabarcodeshop.com and https://india-barcodes-store.com by the Ld Judge Mukta Gupta. The website https://india-barcodes-store.
ABOUT GS1 INDIA
GS1 India is a Standards body set up by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, along with apex trade bodies. It is an affiliate to the global supply chain standards organisation – GS1 (Global), headquartered in Brussels, Belgium which oversee operations of GS1 member organisations in 115 countries.
GS1 India holds a registered certification trademark and is licensed to allocate GS1 barcode numbers starting with ‘890’.
On 29th May 2020, the Delhi High Court had granted an ad-interim injunction in the favour of GS1 India in a suit for trademark infringement against ‘India Barcode Shop (Global Barcodes SL)’.
LANDMARK RELIEF AT PRESENT
The Court noted that due to misrepresentation by ‘India Barcode Shop’, customers are made to believe that the barcodes sold by India Barcode Shop are compliant with GS1 Standards and are assigned by GS1 India.
In response to the judgement, Mr S. Swaminathan, COO, GS1 India said,
“Unauthorised selling of GS1 barcode numbers (GTINs), starting with 890, by few websites, was creating problems for our subscribers and consumers, at large. Our customers were being misled by unauthorised barcode sellers and consumers were made to believe that unauthorised numbers could be authenticated using GS1 systems. Additionally, the numbers sold by third parties have been jeopardising retail ecosystem since there is no guarantee of their uniqueness. Further, the endeavour of unique identifying products gets compromised.”
He further added, “The order issued by the Delhi High Court holds importance in many ways. Firstly, we believe this will curb misleading activities in this regard. The order also safeguards the interest of consumers, besides manufacturers/brand owners, retailers and e-tailers, who have collaboratively invested for over 40 years in the GS1 system of standards and identification.”
Adv. Aditya Gupta, Attorney, Ira Law, said,
“GS1 India’s 890 certification trademark serves a very important function. Consumers are assured that the barcode numbers starting with 890 are compliant with GS1 standards and the details regarding the allottee are readily available at the click of a button. This helps trace the entity responsible for the product and injects accountability in the system”.
Indian Law Watch also interacted with the Leadership Team of GS1 India, on the legal developments for their viewpoint.
Q. With the issue and the order coming into place, what is the remedy now available to the customers who got deceived in the process of getting a barcode starting with the number’890’? Is any collective legal action under consideration for the damage caused?
A. The deceived customers would have to apply to GS1 India to get a valid GS1 barcode number starting with “890”. Consequent to order they may take an independent legal approach to seek remedy/damages from such deceiving websites.
Q. All GS1 identification keys can be encoded/combined with automatic identification and data captures (AIDC) technologies like Barcodes, RFID tags and QR Codes. The question arises was the defendant company illegally providing fake barcodes only or was it also providing fake QR and RFID tags? Is the order providing relief for all three categories? A clarification in this regard?
A. By subscribing to GS1 India for GS1 Barcode number started with “890”, the companies can use it across all data carriers (barcode/RFTD/QR codes)
B. The defendant company was only providing an unauthorized GS1 identification number starting with “890” and not QR codes, the RFID Tags. Yes, the Order may indirectly provide relief to all three categories.
Q. What should be the strategies to ensure such issues do not arise in the future since we are switching more and more to technology-based options?
A. By virtue of this High Court order, with the help of the technology, we are now monitoring of such unauthorized and misleading websites who are selling GS1 barcode number starting with “890”.
GS1 India will take all such measures as would be advised by our legal and technical experts from time to time to safeguard from any similar foreseeable issues.
Q. Does any such fake organization which promised to provide 890 Barcoding become privy to some privileged data of the organization approaching for obtaining bar codes?
A. No. while getting barcodes from such unauthorised and misleading websites, they generally ask how many barcodes are required and pay the fee accordingly and subsequently, they get the barcode starting with “890”. However, this is based upon our understanding of these deceiving websites, we cannot comment if the organisations may have shared any further information over chat with them.
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