Christian Louboutin SAS v Nakul Bajaj and Ors.

In a recent judgment by the Delhi High Court in Christian Louboutin SAS v Nakul Bajaj and Ors., it has held that Darveys who was selling counterfeit goods on their online platform by using Christian Louboutin’s trademark including the notorious single-colour mark for its distinctive “red sole” and using their name as meta tags, was not a mere intermediary and safe harbor protection of Section 79 of the IT Act is not available to them.

Darveys identifies, enables and promotes the sellers and thus exercises complete control over the products being sold. Darvey’s takes responsibility for the authenticity of the products and commissions checks on all its supplies, facilitates the purchases and sourcing of the products from third party sellers and arranges for the transport of the goods. It is more than an intermediary and may qualify as an ‘active participant’ since large number of elements are present in their business.