The rise of digital platforms has radically changed the way we buy and sell, connecting global markets in seconds and making it possible to carry out international transactions in an agile and accessible way.
Despite their advantages, these platforms have become a showcase for the sale of counterfeits, putting the protection of intellectual and industrial property rights at risk. These include AliExpress, eBay, Amazon and HACOO, which is currently setting the trend.
HACOO is a digital e-commerce platform that operates mainly through a mobile application, offering a wide range of products, from fashion items to electronic devices.
The product photographs on HACOO are a key tool in its commercial strategy. These images are designed to allow the consumer to intuit that the item may bear the logo of the brand being infringed, but without explicitly showing it. This visual tactic gives the consumer the perception of purchasing a high-end product, while avoiding direct identification with the original brand. When users receive their products, they discover that the logos of the renowned brands are indeed present on the purchased items.
Furthermore, HACOO differentiates itself from other digital platforms by the care taken in every aspect of the counterfeit product: from the materials to the finishing touches, including the packaging. The products reach consumers in packaging, boxes, bags and labels carefully designed to imitate the originals, as well as with certificates of manufacture and apparent originality. The attention to these details, together with the significantly lower price, creates a shopping experience that, although consciously counterfeit, is perceived as legitimate by the consumer.
In Spain, the marketing of counterfeit goods is a criminal offence under the Penal Code (art. 274). However, all this commercial and technological interweaving carried out by HACOO makes it an increasingly complex task to activate criminal proceedings to prosecute these conducts and to obtain effective results in terms of cessation.
Indeed, HACOO is managing to evade even artificial intelligence-based digital surveillance tools to track images and text that may relate to the original products. There is also the added difficulty of tracing the person behind the sale of counterfeit products, especially when it comes to platforms that operate anonymously or through intermediaries, as is the case with HACOO.
Faced with the growing problem of counterfeiting on digital platforms such as HACOO, courts are increasingly being forced to adapt and develop new technological strategies for the identification and prosecution of these infringements.
- IP address identification and tracking: To overcome the anonymity of sellers, courts are turning to the use of IP tracking technologies to identify the location and device used to make the sale of counterfeit goods. To be honest, in practice this measure is not always conclusive, as infringers use tools such as virtual private networks (VPNs) to hide their true location or use shared IP addresses.
- Blocking infringing websites and platforms: Courts can order the blocking of websites that engage in the marketing of counterfeit goods in order to interrupt the flow of product sales while the investigation is carried out. In the case of platforms such as HACOO, this measure is ambiguous, not only because of the wide variety of products, but also because most of the pictures do not clearly identify the infringement.
- Investigation beyond the platform: The courts are trying to broaden their approach to intermediaries and technological actors facilitating the sale, giving them responsibility and requiring them to act diligently in the event of detecting sufficient indications of infringement. The main handicap of this measure is that in many cases it requires coordination with judicial bodies in other countries, which prolongs the investigation process and complicates the prosecution of infringements.
- Collaboration with customs agents and international authorities: Courts are encouraging collaboration between different authorities, such as the IP Enforcement Portal within the European Union. Although this measure is in constant development, it is being implemented more and more frequently. However, as is logical, its effectiveness is most noticeable when goods enter Spain or the EU at borders, as it makes it possible to intercept shipments in large quantities.On the other hand, it is less effective when it comes to shipments of a single product, making it more difficult to identify and apprehend offenders.
In sum, although more sophisticated technological and legal measures are being taken to combat the sale of counterfeit goods on platforms such as HACOO, counterfeits remain a difficult IP enemy to defeat.
By deftly avoiding detection, subtly hiding brand logos and applying meticulously crafted marketing tactics, platforms like HACOO expose the failings of the current legal and technological system in detecting counterfeits on a large scale.
Article by Maria Garcia.
