Title: SHOP SAFE Act of 2020
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
Stopping Harmful Offers on Platforms by Screening Against Fakes in E-commerce Act of 2020 or SHOP SAFE Act of 2020
This bill establishes that an electronic commerce platform shall be liable for trademark infringement by a third-party seller of goods that implicate health and safety unless the platform takes certain actions.
Specifically, the platform may be contributorily liable if the seller uses a counterfeit mark in connection with selling, offering, or advertising such goods on the platform. The platform may avoid such liability by taking certain actions, including (1) requiring the seller to be available for service of process in the United States, (2) verifying the seller's identity and contact information, (3) requiring the seller to agree to not use counterfeit marks with goods sold on the platform, (4) implementing technical measures to prescreen listings on the platform and remove listings for goods being sold with a counterfeit mark, and (5) implementing policies to remove and ban repeat offenders.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6058 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6058

    To amend the Trademark Act of 1946 to provide for contributory 
   liability for certain electronic commerce platforms for use of a 
  counterfeit mark by a third party on such platforms, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 2, 2020

    Mr. Nadler (for himself, Mr. Collins of Georgia, Mr. Johnson of 
   Georgia, and Mrs. Roby) introduced the following bill; which was 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Trademark Act of 1946 to provide for contributory 
   liability for certain electronic commerce platforms for use of a 
  counterfeit mark by a third party on such platforms, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Stopping Harmful Offers on Platforms 
by Screening Against Fakes in E-commerce Act of 2020'' or the ``SHOP 
SAFE Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. CONTRIBUTORY LIABILITY FOR ELECTRONIC COMMERCE PLATFORMS.

    Section 32 of the Act entitled ``An Act to provide for the 
registration and protection of trademarks used in commerce, to carry 
out the provisions of certain international conventions, and for other 
purposes'', approved July 5, 1946 (commonly known as the ``Trademark 
Act of 1946'') (15 U.S.C. 1114), is amended by inserting at the end the 
following:
            ``(4)(A) An electronic commerce platform shall be 
        contributorily liable for infringement by a third-party seller 
        participating on the platform for use in commerce of a 
        counterfeit mark in connection with the sale, offering for 
        sale, distribution, or advertising of goods that implicate 
        health and safety, unless the following requirements are met:
                    ``(i) The third-party seller is available for 
                service of process in the United States.
                    ``(ii) Before any alleged infringing act by the 
                third-party seller, the platform demonstrates that the 
                platform took each of the following reasonable steps to 
                prevent such use on the platform:
                            ``(I) Verified through governmental 
                        identification and other reliable documentation 
                        the identity, principal place of business, and 
                        contact information of the third-party seller.
                            ``(II) Required the third-party seller to 
                        verify and attest to the authenticity of goods 
                        on or in connection with which a registered 
                        mark is used.
                            ``(III) Imposed on the third-party seller 
                        as a condition of participating on the platform 
                        contractual requirements that--
                                    ``(aa) the third-party seller 
                                agrees not to use a counterfeit mark in 
                                connection with the sale, offering for 
                                sale, distribution, or advertising of 
                                goods on the platform; and
                                    ``(bb) the third-party seller 
                                consents to the jurisdiction of United 
                                States courts with respect to claims 
                                related to the third-party seller's 
                                participation on the platform.
                            ``(IV) Displayed conspicuously on the 
                        platform the verified principal place of 
                        business, contact information, and identity of 
                        the third-party seller, the country of origin 
                        and manufacture of the goods, and the location 
                        from which the goods will be shipped.
                            ``(V) Required each third-party seller to 
                        use images that the seller owns or has 
                        permission to use and that accurately depict 
                        the actual goods offered for sale on the 
                        platform.
                            ``(VI) Implemented at no cost to the 
                        registrant proactive technological measures for 
                        screening goods before displaying the goods to 
                        the public to prevent any third-party seller's 
                        use of a counterfeit mark in connection with 
                        the sale, offering for sale, distribution, or 
                        advertising of goods on the platform.
                            ``(VII) Implemented at no cost to the 
                        registrant a program to expeditiously disable 
                        or remove from the platform a listing by any 
                        third-party seller that reasonably could be 
                        determined to have used a counterfeit mark in 
                        connection with the sale, offering for sale, 
                        distribution, or advertising of goods.
                            ``(VIII) Terminated use of the platform by 
                        any third-party seller that has engaged in more 
                        than three instances of use of a counterfeit 
                        mark in connection with the sale, offering for 
                        sale, distribution, or advertising of goods on 
                        the platform.
                            ``(IX) Implemented at no cost to the 
                        registrant technological measures for screening 
                        third-party sellers to ensure that sellers who 
                        have been terminated do not rejoin or remain on 
                        the platform under a different seller identity 
                        or alias.
                            ``(X) Provided the information verified 
                        under clause (I) of each third-party seller 
                        that used a counterfeit mark in connection with 
                        the sale, offering for sale, distribution, or 
                        advertising of goods on the platform to 
                        relevant law enforcement and, upon request, the 
                        registrant.
            ``(B) In this paragraph:
                    ``(i) The term `counterfeit mark' has the meaning 
                given that term in section 34(d)(1)(B).
                    ``(ii) The term `electronic commerce platform' 
                means any electronically accessed platform that 
                includes publicly interactive features that allow for 
                arranging the sale, purchase, payment, or shipping of 
                goods, or that enables a person other than an operator 
                of such platform to sell or offer to sell physical 
                goods to consumers located in the United States.
                    ``(iii) The term `goods that implicate health and 
                safety' means goods the use of which can lead to 
                illness, disease, injury, serious adverse event, 
                allergic reaction, or death if produced without 
                compliance with all applicable Federal, State, and 
                local health and safety regulations and industry-
                designated testing, safety, quality, certification, 
                manufacturing, packaging, and labeling standards.
                    ``(iv) The term `third-party seller' means a person 
                other than the electronic commerce platform who uses 
                the platform to arrange for the sale, purchase, 
                payment, or shipping of goods.
            ``(C) Nothing in this paragraph may be construed to limit 
        liability for direct infringement.''.
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