Were you someone who liked to get memory cards and pendrives from the market at throwaway prices? And I am sure you were really lucky. But not anymore!!!.

Worried about the growing counterfeit market, the US company, SanDisk, after setting up their operations in India, filed a case before the Delhi High Court in 2015 against infringement of their registered trademark  and copyright in their flagship product, SanDisk memory cards. They filed the case naming the opposite party, the infringer as John Doe, a practise followed by litigants when they are unsure whom you are up against or who is violating your rights.

The Court ordered a Local Commissioner, to enquire and find out who is manufacturing and selling these counterfeits. And the poor guy was none other than one Mr. Ishu Narang, trading as M/s Arya Impex, from whom the commissioner seized nearly 890 infringing goods. There might have been others in the market, but only our Ishu was caught in the net thrown by this big Delaware firm.

Who is our local guy to stand against this mammoth Fortune 500 and S&P 500 Company who have registered their trademark in nearly 150 countries? He never appeared before the court. But nonetheless, an injunction order with a fine of INR 4,45,000 was passed against him. And more is in store for him as the suit is decreed.

And thus the end of getting ‘deals of the day’ from our favourite online marketplaces and our ‘chotta’ shopowner ‘bhaiyyas’. More is in store for the commonman with the IP laws getting stronger and more deals dying