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Industry Alert! HP Argentina Blocks the Sale of NON-OEM Toner and Ink From Famous Local Website.
By Gustavo Molinatti
(Google Translated)
In a unilateral decision without legal basis, Mercado Libre de Argentina is removing from its site publications and user accounts with the sale of non-original cartridges and inks “at the request of Hewlett Packard Development” (HPD), who alleges an alleged infringement of rights to Intellectual Property.HPD’s deceptive action represents a dangerous threat to all companies that market non-original products through Mercado Libre, since the new site’s brand protection program (BPP – Brand Protection Program) does not foresee an intervention between both parties ( trademark owner and the alleged offender), but instead suspends publication for 5 days while the defendant presents his discharge to the complainant (that is, to HPD), who will decide whether it is valid or not. If the complainant rejects the validity of the discharge, Mercado Libre cancels the publication and the antecedent remains in the history of the accused, with the warning to avoid future complaints since the accumulation of them can lead to sanctions, even in the definitive cancellation from account.
It is easy to predict what HPD’s decision will be regarding the validity of these disclaimers and further clarify that HP does not respond to any note and disclaimer in this regard.
Mercado Libre also does not report details of the alleged infringement of HPD’s Intellectual Property rights, it only clarifies the infringement reported with the text that states that “your product could be using its brand in an illegitimate way (for example, saying that you are an official distributor when you are not, including their logos in the description or images of the publication) ”.
One of the affected companies was Kennen SRL, with 21 years of experience in the industry and a user of Mercado Libre. Andrés Fabbri, Commercial Director of Kennen, commented to Guía del Reciclador that “the alleged complaint by HP does not allege that it is due to patents but due to the use of its trademarks.” Kennen is the official distributor in Argentina of the renowned German OCP inks and the publications observed were precisely on the OCP Photo 7110, 7612, 8600, 8620, 8610, 7510 250ml inks. “The funny thing is that our post clearly shows that the sale is on our OCP brand inks and not HP brand,” clarified Fabbri.
Our newsroom also became aware of other similar actions by HPD against Argentine aftermarket companies. This is the case of the firm Guisu SRL, which lost its CartuchosYa account after being denounced by the OEM.
Until last year there was a clause that allowed Mercado Libre not to give rise to actions without legal support such as this one from HPD, since those who adhered to the BPP had the obligation to substantiate the complaint in legal terms that would allow understanding and correcting publications , avoiding future sanctions. This obligation is not present in the current BPP program, therefore, in practice, HPD is not required to substantiate its claim. As a result of this increase in complaints, the CAMOCA industry association is organizing a virtual meeting with both partners and non-partners, to analyze the cases of some companies that sell on the platform and discuss strategies, in order to prevent Hewlett Packard and eventually other companies make distorted use of the BPP, turning it into a tool to attack our industry that produces remanufactured and alternative products. The final objective is the formation of a representative group of companies that channel through the Chamber the actions that it decides to face before the corresponding administrative or judicial authorities.
http://www.blogdelreciclador.com/2020/08/alerta-industria-hp-argentina-bloquea.html
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