Horeka respects intellectual property rights and requires every seller to do the same. This policy explains how a rights holder can report an infringing listing, how we act on reports, and how a seller can respond.
This policy is published in accordance with our obligations as an intermediary under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and Rule 3 of the IT Rules, 2021, and reflects the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and the Copyright Act, 1957.
1. Our position
Listings are created and controlled by independent sellers. Horeka does not author them and does not initiate their transmission.
We act expeditiously to remove content on receipt of a valid notice or a court or government order.
We maintain a repeat-infringer policy and terminate sellers who infringe persistently.
We do not adjudicate the merits of an IP dispute. We are not a court. Where a matter is genuinely contested, we may keep the listing suspended and require the parties to resolve it between themselves or before a competent forum.
2. Who may file a notice
A notice may be filed by the rights holder or by a person authorised in writing to act on their behalf. Where an agent files, we may require evidence of authority.
Grievance Officer, Horekaa Technocon Private Limited, D-2/11, Model Town 3, Opposite D Park Main Gate, New Delhi — 110009
3.1 Required contents
A notice must include all of the following. Incomplete notices cannot be actioned and will be returned for completion.
Your details — full legal name, entity, postal address, email and telephone.
The right relied on, identified precisely:
Trademark — registration number, class, jurisdiction and registered proprietor. For unregistered marks, evidence of prior use and reputation.
Copyright — a description of the work and the basis of ownership.
Design — registration number under the Designs Act, 2000.
Patent — patent number and the claims said to be infringed.
The specific listings complained of — the full product URL for each. A brand name alone is not sufficient; we cannot action a request to remove “all listings mentioning X”.
The nature of the infringement — counterfeit goods, unauthorised use of a mark, copied product images or listing text, parallel import, or design infringement.
Evidence, where the claim is counterfeiting — what specifically identifies the goods as counterfeit, such as differences in packaging, mark, or the absence of authorised-distributor status.
A statement of good faith belief that the use complained of is not authorised by the rights holder, its agent or the law.
A statement of accuracy — that the information in the notice is accurate and that you are the rights holder or authorised to act on their behalf.
Signature — physical or electronic, of the authorised person.
4. What happens next
Stage
Timeline
Acknowledgement of your notice
Within 24 hours
Review for completeness and validity
Within 3 working days
Action on a valid notice
Within 15 days, and expeditiously where counterfeiting or a safety risk is evident
Compliance with a court or government order
Within 36 hours
On accepting a notice we will disable or remove the listing, notify the seller with a copy of the notice and the reason, record the action against the seller’s compliance history, and inform you of the outcome.
5. Counter-notice — how a seller responds
A seller whose listing has been removed may file a counter-notice at [email protected] within 14 days, including:
The seller’s full legal name, address, email and telephone;
Identification of the listing removed;
A statement of the basis on which the seller is entitled to sell the goods — for example an authorised-distributor agreement, a purchase invoice from an authorised source, a licence, or a genuine parallel-import right;
Supporting documents, such as invoices tracing the goods to a legitimate source;
A statement that the information is accurate, signed by the seller;
Consent to the jurisdiction of the courts at New Delhi.
On a valid counter-notice we will forward it to the complainant. If the complainant does not confirm within 14 days that they have initiated proceedings, we may restore the listing. We will not restore a listing where the goods appear counterfeit or unsafe on their face.
6. Repeat infringers
We maintain a strike record against each seller account:
Strikes
Consequence
First valid notice
Listing removed; written warning; mandatory acknowledgement of this policy
Second valid notice
Listing removed; category-level listing restriction; settlement hold on affected goods
Third valid notice
Account suspension pending review
Deliberate counterfeiting
Immediate termination, forfeiture of settlement on affected goods, and referral to the authorities — no strike ladder applies
Strikes withdrawn following a successful counter-notice are removed from the record.
7. Abuse of this process
Filing a false or bad-faith notice is a serious matter. It can constitute an unfair trade practice and may expose the sender to liability for groundless threats under Section 142 of the Trade Marks Act, 1999.
Where we find that a complainant has repeatedly filed notices that are baseless, or is using this process to suppress lawful competition, we may decline to accept further notices from them, restore affected listings, and disclose the conduct to affected sellers.
8. Horeka’s own intellectual property
The Horeka name, the Horeka Quick, Horeka Discover and Horeka Bulk marks, our logos, site design, original photography, copy and software are owned by Horekaa Technocon Private Limited or licensed to us. You may not copy, scrape, reproduce or create derivative works from them without written permission.
Sellers grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use their listing content and marks solely for the purposes of operating, marketing and promoting the platform, as set out in the Seller Agreement.
Automated scraping, crawling or bulk extraction of listings, prices or images other than by search engines observing our robots directives is prohibited.
