Weekly news updates for the E-commerce and Licensing domain.
Amazon’s Smart Commerce program
Amazon has recently launched an initiative called Smart Commerce in India, to help small retailers and local shops to create their own digital stores, in addition to its existing E-commerce platform. This new initiative will also allow store owners to offer an in-store shopping experience to their walk-in customers. Through the Smart Commerce initiative, stores of any size can sign up to be a part of this program and Amazon will provide them assistance with logistics and digital payments.
Smart Commerce will offer a range of features to stores including the ability to digitize billing, manage inventory, as well as a voice and chat-based shopping experience. This will further help the local shops to scale up their business by plugging into various marketplaces and platforms such as Facebook, thereby increasing their consumer base.
First Apparel Store launched by Amazon
After shutting down several of its book stores and other retail stores in the US, Amazon has now opened it’s first apparel store in Los Angeles, US. Customers can visit the store and shop directly from there or they can order the clothes online on Amazon’s website and have it delivered to the store, where they can try it on. “Each apparel features a QR code that customers can scan to curate a list of clothing they would like to try on in a fitting room or pick up for purchase.”
Google likely to join Govt.’s ONDC platform
The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) was recently launched by the Government of India, in its beta form before it can be made accessible nation wide. The ONDC, is an initiative by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, to promote micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), across various sectors, such as mobility, grocery, food order and delivery, hotel booking and travel, among others. By listing their business on the platform, the MSM enterprises will be able to achieve better visibility for their brand, thereby enabling them to scale up their business.
Following the launch of the ONDC by DPIIT, Google has now expressed interest to join the ONDC and has discussed the same with the government. Google initially intends to join the ONDC through its search and payment services, however, it is still in the discussion stage and no official confirmation of the same has been made either by Google or the government.
Marvel signs deal with Stan Lee Universe
Marvel Studios has signed a deal with the Stan Lee Universe for a duration of twenty years to license the name and likeness of the comic legend Stan Lee, in future Marvel projects. Over the past few years, Stan Lee became popular and widely recognised by the younger generation of Marvel fans, due to his cameos in several Marvel films.
Through this licensing deal, Marvel intends to use Stan Lee’s name and likeness in “films and television productions, as well as Disney theme parks, various “experiences” and merchandising”, along with using Stan Lee’s “voice and signature in movies and television projects, as well as to use images, existing footage and existing audio recordings featuring him. The rights to use Lee’s name, voice, likeness and signature exclusively in theme parks, cruise lines and in-park merchandise were also included in the deal.”
EA Sports to discontinue FIFA video game
The FIFA video game will no longer be available from next year, as EA Sports, the firm that created the video game, has been unable to renew the terms of the licensing deal with FIFA, the international body governing the game of football. EA Sports has been producing the FIFA video game since the last thirty years. This will however end in the current year, as EA Sports will produce its own version of the football video game and launch the EA Sports FC, in 2023.
Authored and compiled by Neharika Vhatkar (Associate, BananaIP Counsels)
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The E-Commerce and Licensing News Bulletin is brought to you by the Trademark and Copyright Division of BananaIP Counsels, a Top ranked IP Firm in India. Led by Sanjeeth Hegde, BananaIP Counsels’ trademark attorneys are among the leading experts in the field. If you have any questions, or need any clarifications, please write to contact@bananaip.com with the subject: E-Commerce and Licensing News Bulletin.
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Disclaimer
Please note that the news bulletin has been put together from different sources, primary and secondary, and BananaIP’s reporters may not have verified all the news published in the bulletin. You may write to contact@bananaip.com for corrections and take down.
