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Abstract

The world of the Internet has opened a limitless market for sellers and buyers but at the same time, it has opened a new chapter of infringement and theft of the identity of well-established companies which trade online. Both original and fake companies are attracted by the lucrative market online; this has ultimately resulted in trading in counterfeit products. Digital marketing is more than just thebusiness of disseminating product information for online sales. It involves content building for marketing, designing of the website, information about the product, customer support tools, chat rooms, online payment system etc. Marketing is a commercial speech and is protected under the fundamental right of freedom of speech and freedom of trade. Misleading and fraudulent statements via marketing to push sale of the product is a wrongful act. To reach customers, while introducing the product or services to customers, some unethical practices are adopted by digital marketers and consumers are deceived and misrepresented to their sites as well as the rights of sellers are violated by such anti-competitive practices. Marketing and selling of counterfeit products are addressedunder the trademark laws of various countries such as the USA, the UK, and India. Thus, more focus is on protecting the rights of the owner of the goods than protecting the rights of customers. This paper examines the deceptive practices adopted by marketers on digital platforms and the rights of consumers against counterfeit products. This paper also investigates the legislative framework in India and compares it with the framework at global level.

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