Amazon India caught up in copyright issues over campaign 'Apni Dukaan'

Amazon India's flagship campaign Apni Dukaan that they rolled out to connect with customers in the remotest part of the country has run in to copyright issues. The campaign name 'Apni Dukaan' is same as Pune-businessman Ravi Jain's domain apnidukaan.com that he registered in 2007. Jain wants the retail giant to stop using the name for their campaign.

Apnidukaan.com is in the business of selling kitchen appliances, electronics and furniture. The owners are now in the process of asking Amazon to remove all references to Apni Dukaan from its advertisement and marketing campaigns as they own the intellectual property rights of the brand.

Jain said that their firm and Amazon have no connection. "As we own the trademark of Apni Dukaan, we are going to request Amazon to remove references to Apni Dukaan in all the ad and marketing campaigns," Jain said, as mentioned in a report in Business Standard.

According to Jain, this is a good time to approach Amazon as he is planning on expanding his business and wants to approach investors for funds. Jain also runs the e-commerce site of apnidukaan.com. Jain said that he does not want investors to be confused and think his platform to be related to Amazon in anyway. He plans to expand his business and bring in investors to sell a minority stake in the firm.

When Jain bought the domain name a decade ago, he spent Rs 500 on it. Analysts believe that if Amazon were to buy the brand name, he would earn a fortune.  

Amazon launched its Apni Dukaan campaign in 2016 via YouTube advertisements and videos. In fact, CEO Jeff Bezos even referred to the campaign while thanking customers for their support in the last five years in a letter.

(Edited by Anwesha Madhukalya)