Trademark Protection in the Digital Era: Challenges of Domain, Social Media & Influencer Marketing.
This article is written by Sameeksha Das, pursuing B.A.LL.B (Hons.) from Amity Law University (Raipur).
The study explores how digital trademark protection has evolved, examining the legal and regulatory strategies adopted in India for the issues of online brand clashes, domain name disputes, social media abuse, and violations of influencer marketing. The research begins by exploring the doctrinal underpinnings of the Trade Marks Act of 1999, and then examines the impact of the digital economy on perceptions of, usage of, and enforcement of trademarks. This paper explores the role of domain names and social media handles in the world of brand identification and the increasing use of them for brand impersonation, parody, and traffic harvesting despite the fact that they remain protected by a fragmented registration and enforcement system.
The present study also studies the institutional and structural obstacles in enforcing trademark rights abroad, such as the intermediary roles, limitations on "safe harbour" provisions, the costs and delay of digital litigation, and the difficulty in locating foreign infringers. It then looks at pending regulatory steps such as Influencer Advertising by the Central Consumer Protection Authority and the Advertising Standards Council of India and suggestions to improve domainname restrictions, dynamic injunctions and AI-based monitoring.
The research calls for building a system of IP protection for India that is more focused on the digital landscape, more institutional, and more aligned with consumer expectations in relation to IP laws, intermediary liability, and transparency, with a greater focus on platform accountability and consumer awareness. The findings underscore the importance of clarifying legal principles, revisiting legislation and moving proactive enforcement measures to ensure the security of digital assets, especially for small innovators and established brands in a complex and borderless digital marketplace.
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