Amazon, Flipkart & Snapdeal directed to stop selling counterfeit copies of EBC’s books; Delhi HC restrains parties from printing & selling counterfeit copies of EBC books.

The Court directed the Commissioners to conduct a search at the book houses and seize the infringing products bearing EBC’s registered trademarks or containing contents identical or deceptively similar to EBC’s books, books without hologram, packaging, labels, printing material and other material that reflect infringement of copyright and trademark.

Delhi High Court: In a suit filed by Eastern Book Company (‘EBC’), seeking urgent interim relief against sale of counterfeit copies of its books, and ex-parte appointment of Local Commissioners, Sanjeev Narula, J. restrained the defendants from manufacturing, publishing, offering for sale, advertising, using, exporting, printing, directly or indirectly selling or dealing in products, including, but not limited to books under the trade marks ‘EBC’ and ‘Eastern Book Company’.

Further, the Court appointed Local Commissioners (‘Commissioners’) to enter the premises of book houses or any other locations, along with a representative of EBC and their counsel, and seize the counterfeit materials.

Background: EBC is the leading publisher of legal textbooks, commentaries, and law reports authored by legal luminaries, under the trade marks ‘Eastern Book Company’ and ‘EBC’. This case was concerned with the violation of EBC’s intellectual property rights through the sale of pirated/counterfeit books sold under its mark/name by various book houses, namely, Wave Choice Cover, Lawbook hub, Top Book, Fancy Shopping World, Book House, Turning point, Manika Creation, Devi Enterprises, Parents Responsibility, Simra Collection, Renu Devi, Chapter One Publication, Rajesh Ranjan Pandey, Shivam Kumar, Books 123, Suman, Bookestan, on the e-commerce platforms operated by Amazon, and Flipkart and Snapdeal.

In February 2024, EBC started receiving multiple consumer complaints concerning the quality of the publications purchased through Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal. Further, enquiries revealed that certain book houses are manufacturing and selling pirated versions of their textbooks through the e-commerce platforms.

Analysis and Decision: The Court noted that the books sold by EBC are uniquely identified by the hologram stickers affixed on the covers of the book and the International Standard Book Number and International Standard Serial Number issued for publications and serial publications, respectively. EBC has also developed a website ‘www.ebcwebstore.com’ for the sole purpose of sale of books. The Court further noted that the trade marks, and their formative variants are registered in favour of EBC in classes 09, 16, 35, 41, and 42.

In addition to their trade mark rights, EBC also asserts exclusive ownership of the copyright over the literary works entailed in the books published by them. The Court said that the counterfeit versions offered by the book houses are nearly identical to the original books, except for minor differences that may go unnoticed by the consumers. The Court also considered some of the major differences between the original and counterfeit books and took note of the search results of ‘EBC books’ on Snapdeal, Amazon and Flipkart and the images of the counterfeit books.

The Court said that EBC has the exclusive right to publish the afore-mentioned textbooks, and the book houses have no authority to either publish or reprint the same without EBC’s consent. Further, the Court said that, as these books do not originate from EBC, they may also contain incorrect or outdated information, which could damage EBC’s well-established reputation. After noting that the book houses have entirely replicated the make and design of the EBC’s books, the Court said that the consumers purchasing the infringing books through online modes will be unable to identify the points of distinction, which would typically manifest in physical copies of the books.