Alibaba is suing another Taobao marketplace seller, this time for selling counterfeit cat food.
The lawsuit, filed on the 3rd of March with the Shanghai Fengxian District People’s Court, claims the defendant broke several of the trading platform’s regulations prohibiting the sale of trademark-infringing merchandise.
Taobao bought a suspected fake bag of kitten food and sent it to the brand rights holder. The bag’s packaging and verification codes checked out, but on further inspection, tampering to the packaging was discovered and the contents were fake.
Taobao asked the court to order the defendant to compensate them with RMB 2.67 million (~£318,000) for its total direct and indirect economic losses, loss of goodwill and legal fees. Taobao is also asking the court to force the defendant to publish a written apology in several prominent print and web publications for a week.
Earlier this year, Alibaba sued two sellers accused of selling fake Swarovski watches. Last month they also appealed for tougher laws, stricter enforcement and stiffer penalties to crack down on manufacturers and retailers of counterfeit goods in China. They say that tougher laws, stricter enforcement and stiffer penalties are needed for China’s manufacturing industry’s future sustainable development.
