Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) is being closely monitored by the US authorities. They kept an eye on its consumer shopping website for sales of counterfeit and pirated goods, but they did not put the site on the Blacklist.
Alibaba Group has been fighting hard to tackle the counterfeit products so that it is not prone to any reputational risk, as it will be having a direct impact on its share prices. The company may face a decline in its market value as a result, as reported in current Alibaba updates.
Upon allegations, a spokesperson from the company reportedly said, “Our track record of fighting illicit activities is clear, and like all global companies in our industry, we must continue to do everything we can to stop these activities.”
She further added that the company, in order to fight against the fake goods supply, the giant has taken measurable steps, which also includes conducting random checks, all the while using data-mining technology and offering an online complaint forum.
The US Trade representatives have previously removed the Chinese consumer website Taobao.com, from its list of famous markets in 2012. Taobao.com is a platform that connects consumer to retail brands. It does not sell merchandise itself and makes most of its revenue from commission and advertising.
According to Bloomberg report in December 2014, an inspection was done on Alibaba for selling counterfeit goods online, and is said to have removed 90 million listings that were a breach of the intellectual property rights. Moreover, it claims to have spent more than $161 million, just to ensure that it does not have fake goods and protect its consumers 2013. Despite the heavy investments for this purpose, the Chinese regulator still insisted that there was a lack of standardization and violation of trademarks in Alibaba’s sold products.
According to latest Alibaba reports, the company penalized around 131,000 sellers in September 30 2014.The company penalized around 131,000 sellers in September 30 2014. With the corporation of Chinese law enforcement agencies, more than a thousand cases of counterfeiting were filed, arresting 400 suspects.
Alibaba said that it is planning to introduce a system to fast track requests to remove the counterfeit items. The company has also announced the opening of its first data center outside china, which will be located in Silicon Valley. Moreover, it will be looking to target foreign clients for which it will be necessary for it to have a good image.
Alibaba’s Taobao platform basically connects relatively small vendors with the Chinese customers only. The giant's Tmall platform also comes under its operation, which basically is for the larger companies who seek to run online stores.
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