April 09, 2020, Kathmandu, Nepal
Thulo.com, an online shopping company has accused SastoDeal of stealing its content. Bibek Karki, Chairman, and Co-founder of Thulo.com told us that various product images are posted in SastoDeal copying from Thulo.com. According to him, several images are placed on the website of SastoDeal and some even contain a watermark of Thulo.com. Description of some products are too copied and posted as it was in Thulo.com He also said that he was forced to take this step as SastoDeal didn’t remove those images and descriptions despite informing it several times.
He shared some images with watermark to us. When we searched for the same product, we couldn’t find the product. Product may have been unlisted after the issue was started.
Chairman, Bibek Karki posted a post in the Facebook group ‘Entrepreneurs of Nepal’ on Thursday evening regarding this topic. His post says, “Be Genuine: That is the slogan Of this company. But is this Genuine and acceptable way of doing business? Do we have any value for ownership of online property? Can anyone just steal these?? Maybe time to change your tagline.
Despite the name Thulo.com, we are a small company trying to build something thulo here in Nepal. We have used our own resources in the past to create a portfolio of 50 thousand products and photography and editing of products has been a huge part of our cost.
Since the COVID-19 crisis, all online companies have tried to go into essentials and this company has blatantly taken all images from our website and posted these on their website. So much so that they even used an image with our watermark.
Amun Thapa from SastoDeal had been informed about this a week ago and he hasn’t taken any action so I am forced to come here.
I feel if we want to really build up Nepalese companies we need to also learn to value the rights of fellow entrepreneurs. what do u think??
All these images below are taken from our website Thulo.com probably many more have been taken.”
Check out his original post through this link- Click Here
What is intellectual property theft?
Intellectual property theft refers to using other people’s or companies’ ideas, inventions, and creative expressions without prior permission. This can include everything from trade secrets and proprietary products and parts to movies, music, and software.
What does the CEO of SastoDeal say on this topic?
When we contacted with CEO of SastoDeal, Amun Thapa, he called the accusations to be fake and baseless. He also told the whole act was to grab attention from public and media. He added, ”Had it been genuine, I’d have taken out time to write about it. If someone is seeking attention, that’s the wrong intention.”
What do we say on this topic?
The issue of intellectual property theft is increasing day by day in Nepal. Copying other’s content without prior permission is really not a good thing. Such things should not be observed. If someone’s intellectual property is theft, no doubt, justice should be provided to him/her. So, if Thulo.com is victimized, it should definitely get justice and guilty should be punished.
Online business is in infancy phase in Nepal. It’s just started to grow. In this situation, almost 70% of the market is captured by a foreign-owned online business company. When there will be a clash among domestic companies, the third party will be in benefit. It’ll also affect the perception of customers. If such things continue, the infant which has just started growing will suffer a lot leading to difficulty in surviving.
So, we, ICT Frame believe, such incidents should not take place if we really want to develop the online business industry. The accused company should also learn from mistakes and should not repeat such activities in upcoming days. It’s now necessary to understand, United We Stand, Divided We Fall.