Peru: INDECOPI announced some results derived from the agreement to protect IPRs in the digital environment signed with Mercado Libre

The Peruvian National Institute for the Defense of Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI) announced some results derived from the agreement to protect IPRs in the digital environment signed with Mercado Libre (MELI).

As Juan Cichero (Head of Brand Protection at MELI) highlighted in the interview held with IPTango last year, the e-commerce platform “provided INDECOPI with [their] monitoring and reporting tool, but unfortunately, due to the … COVID-19 lockdown, some aspects of the joined efforts had to be delayed. However, [MELI trusted] that with the normalization of the INDECOPI procedures, the enforcement [would] resume”.

Indeed, the enforcement resumed in 2020. Thus, in a press release recently published, INDECOPI indicated that 265 listings were removed from Mercado Libre in light of the cooperation agreement with the platform. Out of these, 152 ads offered counterfeit products that posed a risk to consumers’ health and safety, such as electronic devices, masks, and toys. Meanwhile, 113 listings offered beverages with the protected appellation of origin “Pisco”.

In addition to this, as part of MELI´s proactive measures, 327 warnings were issued to brand owners, so they could review the ads and report the infringement of their IP rights when it was applicable.

Considering the results obtained, INDECOPI and MELI signed an addendum to extend the cooperation agreement for a further twelve months.

Read here the press release published by INDECOPI (in Spanish).

The interview IPTango held with Juan Cichero (Head of Brand Protection at Mercado Libre) is available here.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.