INFORM fails – it’s easily circumvented
Austin Church, 2023 – J.D. Candidate, Boston University School of Law “INCORPORATING A DEPOSIT MECHANISM INTO THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT TO FIGHT ONLINE COUNTERFEITING IN E-COMMERCE” BOSTON UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW [Vol.103:935, Hein Online. Accessed via University of Michigan //DH
The INFORM Consumers Act is similar to the SANTA Act, but it broadens the scope of protection from toy sellers to all high-volume sellers.150 One issue with this law is that online counterfeiters can evade its reach by creating multiple low-volume accounts, therefore never triggering the enhanced scrutiny reserved for high-volume retailers. The INFORM Consumers Act requires some verification documents and use of such documents may reduce this problem.151 However, the reliance on verification documents is troubling because the INFORM Consumers Act does not provide much detail on whether Online Marketplaces have an obligation to ensure the documents are authentic.152 A further weakness of the INFORM Consumers Act is that it suspends sellers who do not comply with the Act until they comply; this allows noncompliant sellers to simply create new accounts and continue their activities.153