ZALORA INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY POLICY

Published 28 January 2022

What You Need to Know About Intellectual Property

What is intellectual property?

Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind. Intellectual property rights include copyrights, trademarks, patents, and registered designs. Generally, owners of intellectual property may enforce their intellectual property rights against anyone who uses their intellectual property without their authorisation.

Trademark

Some general examples of trademark infringement include:

- Making and selling items bearing trade marks that are very similar to other traders’ trade marks or brand names, which results in customers mistakenly thinking the products are from those other traders.

- Using another trader’s trade mark or brand name on a product that is not actually produced by that trader, which results in customers mistakenly thinking that the product is that trader’s product.

Copyright

Some general examples of copyright infringement include:

- Unauthorised use of stock images or someone else’s photos (such as photos from online fashion stores, social media accounts), even if the photo shows the genuine article being sold.

- Printing someone else’s drawings or designs (such as cartoon characters, artworks, movie posters) onto products (such as clothing, stickers, prints), and selling them.

- Unauthorised use of a stylistic font belonging to a creator.

Patents

A common example of a patent infringement is the unauthorised use of a registered design or patented invention in relation to a listed product.

1. Introduction to ZALORA’s Intellectual Property Policy

ZALORA is committed to protecting intellectual property rights and accordingly prohibits the users of the website from disseminating, downloading, publishing online or otherwise transmitting any element that infringes the intellectual property rights of a third party.

We are a curated fashion, beauty and lifestyle e-commerce platform that comprises of third party of brands, a range of our own private label products, and individual third-party merchants under our Marketplace platform. While ZALORA takes pride in the products offered on our platform and carry out reasonable due diligence to ensure our products are authentic and sellers have the appropriate rights with respect to their products and content, the third-party merchants are ultimately responsible for their own inventory and complying with applicable laws and regulations. We provide a platform, but ZALORA does not manufacture goods on behalf of our third-party merchants. The products uploaded on ZALORA Marketplace are provided by third party merchants who are not employees, agents, or representatives of ZALORA. Merchants are solely responsible for ensuring they have all necessary rights to the sale and marketing of their products and content, and that they are not infringing or violating any third party’s rights by listing such content/ products for sale.

This Intellectual Property Policy explains how we address allegations of infringement, how authorised parties can submit proper notices of infringement regarding content on the ZALORA website, and how ZALORA’s merchants can respond when their listings or product pages are affected by a notice.

ZALORA reserves the right to disable any listing, shop, or account that we believe violates our Terms and Conditions, including this Intellectual Property Policy or our Seller’s Agreement(s).

2. Reporting Intellectual Property Infringement claims

We appreciate your help in identifying and reporting listings or product pages you believe may infringe on your intellectual property rights.

Types of claims that are acceptable to ZALORA include:

  • Items that infringe on your intellectual property rights.
  • Counterfeit, fakes or replica items.
  • Unauthorized use of copyrighted content in a listing or product page.
  • Unauthorised use of trademarks in a listing or product page.
  • Unauthorised use of a registered design or a patented concept or invention in a listing or product page.

Types of claims NOT covered by this Policy includes:

  • Disputes over licensing agreements, distributorship agreements or issues relating to the exhaustion of rights and selective distribution.
  • Parallel imports of goods or grey-market goods.

2.1 Methods of submission

By Request to Take Down Form

You can submit an infringement report via our Request to Take Down Form (“Form”) available here. Once your report has been processed, we'll provide you with information on how to submit additional reports and/or details, if necessary. Using the Form is the fastest way for us to receive and address the claim.

By email

You can also submit an infringement report directly to us by email, to the following address: iphelpdesk@zalora.com

Please note that you should include the following information in your report:

Template Report

To ZALORA

1. Your particulars and contact details:

  • Full Name (as per your passport or national identification card)
  • Address
  • Contact number
  • Email Address
  • Your relationship with the intellectual property rights owner (if applicable)

2. Company details:

  • Company name
  • Company Address
  • Email Address
  • Official business address and phone number
  • Letter of authorization (if reporting party is not the intellectual property rights owner)

3. Supporting documents:

  • Identification of the infringing Content with specific URL. Please ensure that the URL is working and able to to identify and locate the electronic copy alleged to be an infringing copy of the intellectual property.
  • Pictorial proof of the infringing Content [Note: Please provide sufficient particulars to identify the intellectual property and the description of the alleged infringement.]
  • Proof of ownership of the right such as registration certificates for intellectual property infringement claims.

4. Statement

  • A statement by you that you have a good-faith belief that the use of the allegedly infringing material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or by law.
  • A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner's behalf.

ZALORA may request additional information before processing a notice, such as identity verification of the reporting party or more documentation regarding the claimed right. ZALORA may reject notices that contain information we believe is false, fraudulent, incomplete, or otherwise submitted in bad faith. ZALORA also reserves the right to take action against abusers of this policy.

ZALORA strives to respond quickly when we receive proper notice of intellectual property infringement and will work with the intellectual property rights owner or its authorised agent towards an expeditious resolution of the complaint. By submitting an infringement report to ZALORA, you hereby authorize and consent to ZALORA providing a copy of the infringement notice, including the name, email address and other pertinent information of the reporting party, to the affected merchant.

2.2 Notice Withdrawals

ZALORA only accepts withdrawals of infringement notices directly from the intellectual property rights owner or authorised representative who submitted the notice of infringement. The withdrawal must clearly state that it is a formal withdrawal and sufficiently identify the merchant and/or material.

Once ZALORA receives a formal withdrawal of a notice of infringement, ZALORA shall make commercially reasonable attempts to contact both parties involved to confirm receipt from the party submitting the withdrawal and to inform the merchant affected by the withdrawal. Please note that infringement matters are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Once we deem the withdrawal request to be legitimate, we will discontinue all actions previously taken on the notice, and reinstate the content (if such content has previously been taken down) on our websites.

3. Merchant Helpdesk

3.1 I am a Merchant with products listed on the ZALORA website. Why did I receive a Notice of Intellectual Property Infringement?

If you received a report of intellectual property infringement, this means an intellectual property rights owner (or an agent authorized by them) notified ZALORA that they believe certain content in your listing/products infringes their intellectual property.

3.2 I disagree with the Notice of Intellectual Property Infringement. What should I do?

If you, in good faith, believe that content you uploaded was removed or access to it was disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification, or that such content does not infringe the intellectual property rights of any other party, or if you need further information about the notice of infringement, you may send an email to contact the reporting party at the contact information provided in the notice of infringement. If a mistake or misidentification has been made by the reporting party, please ask the reporting party to inform ZALORA formally via email at iphelpdesk@zalora.com that they wish to withdraw and/or retract their report.

3.3 Who can I contact for more information?

We encourage you to directly contact the reporting party that provided the notice of infringement to ZALORA if you have questions about the infringement claim, and/or to resolve the issue. Their contact information is included in the email we will send to you to inform you of the notice of infringement. You can also consider consulting a lawyer.

While ZALORA will make commercially reasonable efforts to work with the intellectual property rights owner or its authorised agent and you towards an expeditious resolution of the complaint, ZALORA is not in the position to offer any legal advice to any external party. Any action taken by ZALORA to address the infringement claim is only based on its determination of the facts and representations provided by both parties, and shall only be in compliance with this IP Infringement Policy. Such action taken by ZALORA shall in no way constitute a conclusive and binding legal determination of infringement complaints, which may only be determined by the courts and/or relevant government regulatory agency.

3.4 Repeat Infringements

Each time ZALORA receives a valid infringement notice from a reporting party, we keep a record of it and contact the merchant involved.

ZALORA reserves the rights to suspend or terminate selling privileges of merchants who are subject to repeat or multiple valid notices of intellectual property infringement in appropriate circumstances and at ZALORA’s discretion. These actions apply to any accounts we believe are associated with or operated by the affected merchant. ZALORA reserves the right to suspend or terminate account privileges at any time, and without advance notice, for any and all breach of intellectual property rights.

Common FAQs

Can I use images or logos owned by other brands?

If the item you are listing is not made by your brand, you may not reference them or use any brand logos or other properties when listing your item, unless you have permission from the owner. This could be copyright infringement. When in doubt, consider reaching out to an attorney or contacting the intellectual property owners directly to get permission or confirmation before posting certain content.

Is something still protected by copyright if it doesn't bear a copyright notice?

A copyright notice – typically consisting of the symbol “©” or the word “copyright” – may be placed on a work and is meant to inform others of copyright ownership, but is not required. If you don’t see a copyright notice on a work, this does not necessarily mean you are free to use it without permission from the copyright owner.

Can I avoid infringement by stating clearly on my listing that the product is a replica or imitation/not authentic?

No. Simply disclosing that your product is not genuine does not absolve you from intellectual property infringement or offences relating to counterfeiting.

Do I infringe on a registered trademark by reselling a genuine product bearing the registered trademark?

In Malaysia, reselling genuine trademarked products (which have been put on the market, whether within or outside of Malaysia) will generally not amount to trademark infringement, as long as they were put on the market by the trademark owner or with its express or implied consent. (For example, a trade mark owner may have first sold products bearing their mark in Hong Kong. If a third party imports those products into the Malaysia market for sale, this is generally not considered trade mark infringement).