The US Trade Representative (USTR) put Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s (阿里巴巴) Taobao (淘寶) on its blacklist for the second year in a row over suspected counterfeits sold on the shopping platform, a move the Chinese e-commerce giant said did not reflect its IP-protection efforts.
Alibaba’s hugely popular Taobao is one of 25 online markets, along with 18 physical markets, on the USTR’s annual list of the world’s most “notorious markets” for sales of pirated and counterfeit goods.
Taobao, the largest e-commerce marketplace in China and its third-most popular Web site, was able to stay off the list from 2012 to 2015, but was included in 2016 and now again last year.
While Taobao’s inclusion does not carry any direct penalties, it is a blow to Alibaba’s efforts to shed perceptions that its sites are riddled with fakes and that its anti-piracy policies are inadequate.
“A high volume of infringing products reportedly continue to be offered for sale and sold on Taobao.com and stakeholders continue to report challenges and burdens associated with IP enforcement on the platform,” the USTR said.
The agency acknowledged Alibaba’s efforts to curb the sale of infringing products on Taobao, but said the prevalence of infringing listings and sales remained a challenge.
Alibaba defended itself, saying it had made using its IP protection programs easier, which led to an 11 percent increase in registries.
It also said there had been a 25 percent drop in takedown requests, as it removed infringing listings even before they reached its marketplaces.
“In light of all this, it’s clear that no matter how much action we take and progress we make, the USTR is not actually interested in seeing tangible results,” Alibaba Group president Michael Evans said in a statement.
Alibaba’s data did not directly reflect the scope and status of the counterfeiting problem on Taobao, but was merely suggestive of progress in its anti-counterfeit efforts, the USTR said, adding that those efforts appeared to be more toward addressing the concerns of global brands rather than small and medium businesses.
“It is incumbent upon Alibaba to develop more effective means to address the concerns of the full range of US businesses that continue to find infringing versions of their products for sale on Taobao.com,” the USTR said.
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