Alibaba to be listed as Notorious Market for counterfeit issues

After neglecting to take its internal counterfeit problems seriously, Chinese company Alibaba and its other e-commerce platforms are being called out. The American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) and 17 other additional industry organizations have officially called for the company to be listed as a Notorious Market.

Recently, FashionUnited reported that Alibaba was to be re-listed as a Notorious Market by the AAFA. The request was part of AAFA’s submission for the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) 2016 Special 301 Out of Cycle Review of Notorious Markets. The list is published every year to confirm companies that facilitated substantial copyright materials. This year, it is likely that Alibaba will be added to that list.

In the past, Alibaba has been previously urged to follow the USTR’s recommendations on how to prevent the sale of counterfeit goods. "Despite numerous public statements that the company is taking the counterfeit problem seriously, we have yet to see improvements on Alibaba's platforms," Rick Helfenbein, AAFA’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

AAFA calls for Alibaba to be listed as Notorious Market for neglectful actions

In joining AAFA’s request for Alibaba to be listed as Notorious Market, other organizations have agreed that the company has failed to accomplished what was requested in 2015. The organizations that have joined include: AFL-CIO, Asian Coalition Against Counterfeiting And Piracy (ACACAP), Asociación para la Defensa de la Marca (ANDEMA), Auto Care Association, Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP), Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), Fashion Accessories Shippers Association (FASA), Fashion Jewelry & Accessories Trade Association, Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH (FHS), Istituto di Centromarca per la Lotta Alla Contraffazione (INDICAM), Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association, Norwegian Anti-Counterfeiting Group (NACG), Rubber and Plastic Footwear Manufacturers Association, Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), Trademark Working Group, Travel Goods Association (TGA), and Union des Fabricants (UNIFAB).

The requests that were made in 2015 included simplifying Taobao's process for rights holders to register and request enforcement action, making Taobao's good faith procedures generally available, and reducing Taobao's timelines for takedowns and issue penalties for counterfeit sellers. Since none of these areas were improved, it seemed that Alibaba was not committed to changing the ways of its company.

"We take counterfeits very seriously because of the damage it causes our member companies, international workers, and U.S. consumers. To date, Alibaba has not fixed this problem," said Helfenbein in a statement. Because Alibaba is such a rapidly growing company internationally, the AAFA along with other organizations feels that it is even more important to take the necessary steps to fix the issues that have been addressed.

Photo: Alibaba