US footwear brand sues Flipkart for allegedly selling fake products

US-based footwear brand Skechers has moved court against Flipkart alleging that some third-party sellers were selling counterfeit products of its brand on the Indian online site.

According to Skechers sellers of fake products have managed to sell 15,000 pairs of fake products under its brand. It also filed a police complaint, following which the police conducted raids at seven warehouses in Delhi and Ahmedabad.

Police have so far raided sellers like Retail Net, Tech Connect, Unichem Logistics and Marco Wagon who are accused of selling these counterfeit items. More raids are expected in other cities in the coming days.  

Reports quoting Flipkart sources, however, said that while helping to connect sellers and buyers online as an intermediary, it maintains a robust system of checks and controls to detect and weed out fake products and sellers.

Foreign brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Lacoste, Calvin Klein, Levi's and Superdry had also earlier alleged online sales of fake products in India.

In court-directed raids conducted over the past three years, police have also confiscated thousands of fake apparels from warehouses.

However, e-tailers in the country have so far maintained that they are only online marketplaces and not actual sellers, trying to take the responsibility of ensuring product quality.

Homegrown e-tailer Flipkart and Seattle, US-based Amazon share a substantial portion of the Rs8,500 crore e-market sales volume registered during the festive season, according to market analysts.