Act promptly on infringement notices; for e-commerce counter-notices, the statutory waiting period is 15 days
If a rights holder sends an infringement notice with preliminary evidence, take timely necessary measures such as removal, blocking, or disabling links, and forward it to the seller. Delay can make the platform jointly liable for additional damage. If the seller provides a counter-statement, forward it to the rights holder. Under China's E-commerce Law, if no notice of an administrative complaint or lawsuit arrives within 15 days after delivery, promptly end the measures.
What it takes
No charge to establish the process itself. Create a documented sequence for receiving a notice, forwarding it to the seller, receiving a response, and publishing the required handling information.
What you may gain
Intellectual property rights holders may notify an e-commerce platform to remove or block material, disable links, end transactions or services, or take other necessary measures. The notice must include preliminary evidence of infringement; a bare allegation is insufficient. The platform must act promptly and forward the notice to the seller, or share joint and several liability for the increased harm caused by delay. After forwarding a seller's statement to the rights holder, if the platform receives no notice within 15 days of its arrival that the rights holder has complained to the competent authority or sued, it must promptly end the measures. A platform that knows or should know of infringement and fails to act shares joint and several liability. Intellectual property authorities may order correction; failure to correct can bring RMB 50,000–500,000 fines, rising to RMB 500,000–2 million in serious cases. Conversely, a maliciously false notice causing seller losses triggers double compensation liability. These are Chinese rules.
Context & considerations
An ordinary website outside the e-commerce platform framework follows the Civil Code notice-and-removal rules. After a counter-statement, that framework specifies a reasonable period rather than the E-commerce Law's explicit 15 days. Article 44 of the E-commerce Law also expressly requires public disclosure of received notices, seller statements, and handling results.
Research & references
Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (2018). E-commerce Law, Articles 42, 43, 44, 45, and 84. https://flk.npc.gov.cn/detail?id=2c909fdd678bf17901678bf8af050b81; National People's Congress (2020). Civil Code, Articles 1195, 1196, and 1197. https://www.court.gov.cn/zixun/xiangqing/233181.html