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Alibaba Takedowns And A Lawsuit
We have many times written about our near 100% success rate at getting counterfeit products removed from the big name Chinese websites like Alibaba. See, for instance, Register Your Trademark In China Because Alibaba Is Serious About IP, written way back in 2013:
Alibaba International has a formal procedure for requesting and securing the removal of links to material on its website that infringe another company’s IP rights. To secure the removal of such material, one must follow Alibaba’s procedure to the letter. Among other things the process requires documentation proving the IP owner’s existence and rights to the IP in question. If everything goes smoothly, it takes Alibaba a few weeks to remove an infringing link. We have not once failed to secure the removal from Alibaba of product that violates our client’s trademark rights when we have sought that removal from Alibaba.
Alibaba takedowns are easy, so why the big lawsuit?
Less than a month ago, in Getting Counterfeit Products Off China Websites: It’s Possible, we bragged again about our China lawyers’ success in getting counterfeits taken down from Chinese websites:
A couple of our China lawyers nearly every day oversee requests to Chinese websites to take down counterfeit products. The success rate on getting these products removed within a week or so is North of 95%.
So when I first heard about Luxury Brands’ Lawsuit against Alibaba for alleged laxness in allowing counterfeits on its website, my first thought was to wonder why. But after reading more about that case, I no longer wonder. That lawsuit does not really involve allegations regarding Alibaba’s failing to take down counterfeits; it instead focuses on Alibaba allowing counterfeits to show up on the site in the first place.
The Wall Street Journal did a really good article, 5 Things to Know About Luxury Brands’ Lawsuit Against Alibaba that nicely encapsulates the case as per the below:
1. The Lawsuit Covers a Wide Range of Merchandise. The lawsuit describes a broad array of counterfeit luxury goods, including fake Gucci “diaper bag totes” sold on Alibaba.com for $2-$5 apiece.
2. Defendants Named in the Lawsuit Include Alibaba’s Payment Affiliate. The lawsuit names Alibaba.com, Taoboa.com and also Alipay.com, alleging that Alipay has “actual knowledge that it is providing payment processing services to merchants selling Counterfeit Products.”
3. The Lawsuit Cites Fakes Exported Out of China on Alibaba’s Platforms. Investigators bought counterfeit goods through AliExpress.com that were shipped to New York. The lawsuit states that typing “Gucci” into AliExpress.com’s search engine, causes it to suggest keywords such as “cucci,” “guchi bags,” and similar misspellings.
4. The Lawsuit Alleges Alibaba Is Too Lenient on Counterfeiters. The lawsuit “criticizes Alibaba’s ‘three strikes’ policy on Alibaba.com and AliExpress.com, in which merchants receive first a warning, then a removal of all product listings and finally a ban from the site on the third strike.”
5. Alibaba Says Lawsuit is “Wasteful” and Says it Will Fight. Alibaba says it is doing what it can to prevent counterfeits, including spending about $160 million in 2013 and 2104 to fight against intellectual property infringement and to “enhance consumer protection.”
So how do we reconcile what we say about how easy it is to get Alibaba and others to remove infringing products and this lawsuit? Easy. We write about what we do once counterfeits are spotted and how agreeable Alibaba and others are in terms of getting those counterfeits taken down. We have never written about whether Alibaba and others are doing enough to prevent the counterfeits from showing up in the first place, nor even about how vigilant these websites are in making sure that the bad actors do not show up again on their sites. This lawsuit likely will tell us more about those sorts of things.
Pending resolution of this big case, our China lawyers will just keep overseeing China website takedown actions….
The post Alibaba Takedowns And A Lawsuit appeared first on China Law Blog.
We will be discussing the practical aspects of Chinese law and how it impacts business there. We will be telling you what works and what does not and what you as a businessperson can do to use the law to your advantage. Our aim is to assist businesses already in China or planning to go into China, not to break new ground in legal theory or policy.
Source: http://www.chinalawblog.com/2015/06/alibaba-takedowns-and-a-lawsuit.html
