Caution bloggers and domain makers, a little indiscretion on your part may land you into trouble - thanks to our Copyright Act of 1957. Any small deviation – in strict legal terms - may amount to infringement of copyright. Amit Bhawani of Hyderabad learnt this the hard way when Flipkart – a Bengaluru based e-commerce giant – sent a legal notice to him. The latter alleged that Bhawani infringed on the company’s logo and trademark when he used them to register a domain.
It was business as usual for Amit Bhawani who runs websites like PhoneRadar, AndroidAdvices, etc. His website with URL www.amazonvsflipkart.com hosted about a month ago, caught the attention of Flipkart. It sent a legal notice through the legal firm, Srikrishna & Associates claiming that the blogger has infringed on copyright by using its logo and trademark illegally which could also create confusion among clients. Incidentally, the concerned website had been conducting surveys for comparative study of both these e-commerce majors, Amazon and Flipkart, in areas like pricing, discounts, deals, replacement policy, overall services, etc., and had used the logo of both of them to link to their respective sites. The abrupt notice without any previous communication did bring in quite some unpleasantness for the blogger whose intentions were far from malicious.
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While the website was taken down, Bhavani sounded bitter. He said that he would have been happier to settle the issue and take down the site if Flipkart had just sent a friendly mail instead of a legal notice. Being a major e-commerce company, we do believe, Flipkart could have been a little more even handed and generous in its approach. A Flipkart spokesman however admitted later: “We contend that the language employed in the said notice was stronger than intended, and will make necessary corrections for any future communication.”
Compiler : Syed Zafar Ahmad
Designation: Executive Editor & Compilor
Bio: A freelancer with a flair for experimenting with innovative technology and electronic gadgets that could enrich the life of a modern common man, and a consultant in issues touching every-day life of a computer suave professional.
Bio: A freelancer with a flair for experimenting with innovative technology and electronic gadgets that could enrich the life of a modern common man, and a consultant in issues touching every-day life of a computer suave professional.
