United States of America: Introduction of the SHOP SAFE Act

On 26 September, the SHOP SAFE Act is introduced into the House of Representatives, which aims to amend the Trademark Act of 1946, to create new provisions under which e-commerce providers could be held contributorily liable in a civil action for the use of counterfeits by a third party on their platform unless platforms demonstrate that they took action to prevent this. To combat the sale of counterfeit products that could harm the consumers' health and safety, the bill requires platforms to screen and vet sellers and products, ensure that counterfeiter sellers don’t rejoin or remain on the platform, and provide consumers with all the relevant information and the tools to report if they have purchased counterfeit products. The law applies to platforms that have sales of over $500,000 in a year or less than $500,000 but received 10 notices of counterfeit products in 6 months and have not followed the steps required by the law.