ALICANTE - Amazon is set to become the first major marketplace service provider to join the IP Enforcement Portal (IPEP), the European Union Intellectual Property Office’s centralized platform for the exchange of information related to intellectual property rights enforcement. By doing so, Amazon joins a growing alliance of players dedicated to the fight against counterfeit goods, a press release stated by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).

IPEP acts as a collaborative space for rights holders, customs officials, police, and market surveillance authorities, facilitating the identification and detection of counterfeit products. The portal provides a secure environment for communication and information exchange, in which the rights holders decide which information they share with whom.

It is already in use by over 1 400 brand owners and 81 enforcement agencies across the EU. The involvement of Amazon and other e-commerce marketplaces will further strengthen this collaborative effort.

With the growth of e-commerce and the need to enhance cooperation to undermine online sales of counterfeits, the EUIPO has opened IPEP to e-commerce marketplaces. It has already developed a first set of functionalities that can be used to support cooperation between e-commerce marketplaces and rights holders.

However, that is just the initial step. The EUIPO and e-commerce marketplaces will now work on a new set of IPEP functionalities to support sharing of information and point of contacts with law enforcement authorities across the European Union. While IPEP will not replace the existing notice and takedown channels of the e-commerce marketplaces, it will benefit all online marketplaces that want to protect their users against counterfeits by strengthening the exchange of information with right owners and law enforcement authorities.

As an IP rights holder with a growing IP rights portfolio, Amazon will also join IPEP to make use of the IPEP functionalities to support its own IP rights.