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11. According to Amway, the DSGs are stated to have been issued by the notification dated 26th October, 2016 of the Department of Consumer Affairs at the request of IDSA in order to prevent fraud and to protect the rights and interests of consumers.

12. The central issue highlighted in Amway's Suit CS (OS) 480/2018 filed in this Court against Pioneering Products, and Black Olive Enterprises (Defendant Nos. 1 and 2 respectively) who are sellers on Amazon's online platform, Cloudtail (Defendant No. 3) another seller on Amazon's platform and stated to be an ―affiliate/associate company of Amazon‖, and Amazon (Defendant No. 4), was that Amway cannot sell its products through channels of e-commerce/online portals or mobile apps. According to Amway, sale of its products through any e-commerce or online portal in the absence of a written contract with Amway, is unauthorised both in terms of its ―Code of Ethics‖ as well as clause 7 (6) of the DSGs. Amway claims that it has not provided any written consent to any of its Direct Sellers to undertake or solicit sale, or offer its products through third party e-commerce websites/ mobile apps. Amway is unable to guarantee the authenticity and quality of such products which are purchased from unauthorised sources and its product refund policy does not apply to such unauthorised purchases.

25. At the first hearing of the suit i.e. CS (OS) 480/2018 on 26th September, 2018, the learned Single Judge passed an order granting an interim injunction restraining the Defendant Nos. 1 to 3 not to offer for sale any of the products in the Amway range either through the website ―www.amazon.in‖ or through their mobile application. Further if the same were genuine products, Defendant Nos. 1 to 3 were permitted to approach Amway to establish the same, and if they were able to obtain Amway's written approval then ―they may be permitted to sell the products.‖ As far as Amazon was concerned, it was noted in the order that its counsel had agreed to take down Amway listings from the online platform. It was accordingly directed that Amazon shall within three days, pull down all Amway listings on both the e-commerce platform and the mobile application and confirm the same to Amway through the counsel. It was stated that ―the question as to whether the e-commerce platform is liable in such situations and whether the doctrine of exhaustion would apply, would be gone into on the next date of hearing‖.

53. Turning to Issue (iii), the learned Single Judge concluded that the e- commerce platforms were not merely passive players but ―in fact are massive facilitators‖ inasmuch as they were providing warehousing, logistical support, packaging, delivery services, payment services, collection gateways etc. Reference was made to the FDI Press Note No. 2 of 2018 issued by the GoI in respect of FDI in e-commerce, and its para 5.2.15.2.2 which defines e- commerce.

54. Reference was also made by learned Single Judge to the decisions in Christian Louboutin SAS v. Nakul Bajaj 2018 (76) PTC 508 (Del) and judgement of the Supreme Court of India in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (2015) 5 SCC 1, while distinguishing the decision of the Division Bench in My Space Inc. v. Super Cassettes India Limited (2017) 236 DLT 478 (DB), the decision of the learned Single Judge of this Court in Kent RO Systems Limited v. Amit Kotak 2017 (69) PTC 551 (Del) and the decision dated 1st May, 2017 of the Division Bench in FAO (OS) (COMM) 95/2017 (Kent RO Systems Private Limited v. eBay India Private Limited).

56. On the last issue, i.e. issue (iv) regarding tortious interference with contractual relations, the learned Single Judge observed interalia that:

―The companies and entities, which run e-commerce platforms, have a greater obligation to maintain the sanctity of contracts, owing to the sheer magnitude and size of their operations. When an e-commerce platform is notified of existing contracts and violation of the same on its platform, the least that the platform would have to do would be to ensure that it is not a party, which encourages or induces a breach. The manner, in which e- commerce platforms operate, makes it extremely convenient and easy for ABOs/distributors/direct sellers to merely procure the products from the Plaintiffs and defeat the purpose of the contractual obligations by selling in the grey market to unidentified persons, who may, thereafter, put them in the e- commerce stream, without any quality controls. In this manner, such ABOs/ distributors/ sellers may sell outdated products, expired products, damaged products and hide behind the cloak of the platforms themselves. Since none of the platforms, except IMG, to an extent, are even disclosing the complete details of the sellers, they offer a comfortable refuge for parties breaching their contracts with the Plaintiffs. This refuge by itself constitutes inducement.‖