Alibaba teams up with big brands in fight against counterfeits

Alibaba-Group-Binjiang-campus-in-Hangzhou-ChinaE-commerce giant Alibaba has joined forces with some of the world’s most counterfeited brands to fight against vendors selling fake products online.

Alibaba has teamed up with Louis Vuitton, Samsung and Swarovski, among others, to leverage big data to identify and narrow down copycats. Alibaba will provide its members with big data and other support to help them block, identify and even take down pirated goods from its marketplaces such as Taobao and Tmall.

In return, the brands have committed to sharing their anti-counterfeiting data with Alibaba.

“The most powerful weapon against counterfeiting today is data and analytics, and the only way we can win this war is to unite,” Jessie Zheng, Alibaba’s chief platform officer, said in a statement. “With our robust data capabilities, we are confident the alliance will accelerate the digital transformation in our global fight against counterfeits.”

The move follows a lawsuit filed by Alibaba against two vendors selling knock-off Swarovski watches from their online shopping bazaars on Taobao, claiming 1.4 million yuan (US$202,950) in losses. Taobao is the retail platform for smaller merchants.

Zheng said the e-commerce giant would welcome brands and other organisations to join them in their fight to prevent vendors from selling pirated goods.

Taobao was back on the US government blacklist of “notorious markets” last month for hosting fake items, four years after Alibaba lobbied American trade officials to drop the platform from the list.

 

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