Naina Viswaraj, H.H Maharaja's Govt. Law College, Ernakulam
ABSTRACT
The intellectual property rights are one of the key stones of the consumer protection laws in India or elsewhere. Having effective intellectual property rights would ensure good quality and standard for a particular product. Hence, it is essential for the proprietors to secure the intellectual property rights of a product by not letting anyone to misuse it. This alleged process of misusing the intellectual property rights of a product by any unlicensed proprietors after replicating the exact design and other unique identification characteristics that the other product possess is termed as counterfeiting. Counterfeiting can be both detrimental to the consumers and proprietors alike. The consumer who purchases a counterfeited product is being deceived by this substituted product instead of the original one can suffer damages as a result of the use of this product. The main factor which serves as a link between the consumer protection act and the intellectual property rights is the protection of consumers, notwithstanding the fact that IPR laws are imbibed mostly for the protection of the proprietors, however the main aim of it is to aid the consumers in making an informed decision about a product preventing them falling prey to the spurious products manufactured in the same name. This paper will primarily entail the consequent remedies offered to a consumer after he/she receives a counterfeited product. There were fewer remedied available before to a consumer in case of damages caused as a result of the use of counterfeited products, even after having extensive provisions pertaining to counterfeiting under the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the consumers were often left remediless and the proprietors were the only one to walk away with the compensation. Therefore, this paper will trace the path of evolution of the laws which did not recognize consumers as essential complainants to the laws which recognize consumers as a complainant entitled to the remedies. The new consumer protection act of 2019 protects the consumers who are victims of counterfeiting of products; a detailed overview of all the new provisions incorporated in the new act would be specified in this paper. There are several methods adopted by India and even internationally to prevent the practice of counterfeiting thereby letting the consumers free from any bogus products manufactured in the same name,
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