Alibaba has said that it will be suing two Taobao sellers who they believe are selling counterfeits on the Chinese marketplace. The case regards the sale of Swarovski watches and is believed to be the first case of its kind.
Alibaba has filed a case in the Shenzhen Longgang People’s District Court versus sellers Liu Huajun and Wang Shenyi. They are seeking RMB 1.4 million ($201,320) for “violation of contract and goodwill.”
Jessie Zheng, Alibaba Group’s chief platform governance officer, said of the action: “Selling counterfeits not only violates our service agreement, it also infringes on the intellectual property rights of the brand owner, puts inferior products in the hands of consumers and ruins the hard-earned trust and reputation Alibaba has with our customers.”
A Swarovski spokesperson said: “Swarovski has cooperated with Alibaba on cases against sellers who are offering Swarovski counterfeits on Alibaba platforms and applauds any steps Alibaba takes to discourage counterfeiters from selling on Alibaba platforms.”
It’s heartening to see that concern for intellectual property has reached the core of Alibaba. We’ll keep on reporting this case until it’s resolved.
