The Ministry of Economic Development comes up with a proposal to establish criteria for the discharge of digital platform operators (e.g., marketplaces) from liability for violations of intellectual property rights and trademarks committed by sellers that place their goods on such platforms.

The relevant language was included in one of the latest versions of the Draft Law on the Platform Economics developed by the Ministry. The draft law is currently updated to take account of the proposals received from relevant governmental agencies, industry associations, regions and business. The final decision on the configuration of the law will be made by the government.

Verification of advertisements by sending requests to rights holders is too labor-intensive and time-consuming. If the responsibility is shifted to platform operators, their business model, which is based on the quick provision of the seller's offer with the minimal involvement of the intermediary, will fail.

The wording proposed by the Ministry of Economic Development is a fair option, which, on the one hand, supplements the norm on information intermediaries, and on the other hand, requires them to act in good faith and not to place (or duly block) advertisements that clearly violate the intellectual property rights of third parties.

The full article is available on Vedomosti.ru.