Warranty issue returns to haunt e-comm: Nikon warns online buyers, Flipkart files case

Online retailer Flipkart has slapped a lawsuit against Nikon India at the Karnataka High Court over a caution on its website to customers from buying their products from different e-retailers.

A notice on the Nikon India website dated 16 June 2014 reads : “Please note that E-commerce websites like FLIPKART (Flipkart Internet Private Ltd, WS Retail Services Pvt. Ltd), SNAPDEAL (Jasper Infotech Private Limited) are not our authorized partner/dealer in India for Nikon Products, we advise you to check the warranty entitlements while buying from online portals.”

However, Flipkart did not take these caution to customers very kindly and opted for a legal recourse to deal with the matter.

“They have singled us out and they cannot make such statements. We are selling the same product and therefore, we are asking the high court to restrain Nikon from publishing the statement on their website,” a person familiar with the development was quoted as saying by The Economic Times.

The Flipkart case (MFA 5852/2015) against Nikon India was filed on 3 August 2015 and the next hearing has been scheduled on 21 August by judge BS Patil.

In its reaction to the development, Snapdeal told the business daily that products sold by it through its portal “carry the same genuine and legitimate title and hence are eligible for warranty as applicable to any off-line purchases”.

Last year, Snapdeal had forced kitchen appliances maker Kaff to take off a similar caution notice warning customers of counterfeit products through a stay order secured from the Delhi High Court, the Times of India reported .

Firms like LG, Lenovo and Toshiba had also issued advisories on their websites last year informing consumers that these online platforms are not authorised to sell their products.