Anjali Singh, LL.M., National Law School of India University, Bengaluru
ABSTRACT
Since globalization, states have provided various benefits to the online operating companies in hope of giving larger benefits to the society. But in garb of increasing productivity, the e-commerce giants have been constantly exploiting the consumers resulting in profit to the former and peril to the latter. This paper focuses on the issue as to how the legislature and the judiciary has helped the large e-commerce by developing a provision, safe harbour protection, which gives them an umbrella immunity. Focus would be on the impact of the said provision on the interest of the consumer as a member of the globalized society. The situation gets more complicated keeping in mind that e-commerce giants like Amazon Inc and Flipkart have become brands in themselves affecting not only the Intellectual Property Rights regulations but also competition policy. Importance has been given in the said paper to the judicial role in categorizing the role of e-commerce in transaction between the seller and the buyer. I Shall suggest that the provision is not ipso facto the problem rather its literal compliance which leads to several provisional gaps which the companies take profit of.
Keywords: e-commerce; intermediary platforms, safe harbour protection, blanket immunity, internet transaction, categorisation, deep discounting, platform neutrality.
