Notorious Market Condemnation Doesn't Curb Alibaba Counterfeits

Despite public ridicule, the e-commerce giant is the go-to website for fake goods.

July 26, 2017, Los Angeles, CA – E-commerce giant Alibaba (BABA) has an enormous counterfeit problem. Despite repeated counterfeit notifications, and its own website policy; counterfeits remain, consumers are deceived, and manufacturers and retailers are being harmed in a big way with little recourse. So much so, that The Office of the United States Trade Representative has publicly condemned Alibaba, adding the e-commerce giant to the U.S. Notorious Markets List. The designation is reserved for the world’s most notorious markets for counterfeit goods.

The designation is well deserved, but is the warning reaching consumers?

Alibaba, appropriately named after the fable “Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves,” dismissed the embarrassing disapproval and setback for Alibaba CEO Jack Ma as influenced by the current political climate. But, it’s hard to reconcile that excuse with Alibaba’s actions which continue at the direction of Ma.

Jack Ma wants China’s top lawmakers to come down hard on counterfeiting, and jail time for those who sell them.

• Tough language from a CEO whose websites facilitate and enable distribution of counterfeits throughout the world. In fact, it’s Alibaba who can’t knock off the knockoffs, and enforcement action should be directed at Ma. In a quote to Bloomberg, “There is a lot of bark around stopping counterfeits, but no bite,” says Ma, sounding more like criticism he should be taking than giving.

In addition to trademark, copyright and patent infringement, Alibaba makes this illusory claim on its website "Listings of counterfeits, replicas, or other unauthorized items are prohibited on the Site strictly" - but that is not true. Alibaba admits to hundreds-of-millions counterfeit listings on its websites. In simplest terms, counterfeiting is stealing.

Alibaba claimed it tightened policies against infringement in October 2016, touting that it took down 380 million product listings and closed about 180,000 stores in the previous 12 months, just on its Taobao.com subsidiary.

• What Alibaba didn’t reveal in the PR stunt is why more than double the counterfeit items of 2015 were allowed to be listed, how many duped consumers already purchased the products, and how many items were simply relisted – a common practice.

While Alibaba publicly purports to be on a mission to fight the rampant counterfeiting problem on its platform, and make it easier for brands to request fakes be removed, The Counterfeit Report, an industry watchdog and consumer advocate, found just the opposite. Right's holders must face Alibaba's obstructive, ineffective and dysfunctional "AliProtect" counterfeit removal process.

Right's owners are now even more challenged in removing and preventing counterfeit goods on the platform and by extension, protecting consumers.

• Prior to Alibaba's new counterfeiting reporting system implemented in October 2016, The Counterfeit Report, authorized by the right's holders, found and reported 8.5 million infringing items on Alibaba websites.
• Under Alibaba's Alibaba's new circuitous, unresponsive, and completely ineffective system, The Counterfeit Report found 3.3 million infringing items, but was successful in removing only 3 listings. Why?

Alibaba presents a gauntlet of obstacles, cryptic conflicting instructions, and absurd responses to rights holder's notifications. Even when previously registered with Alibaba's AliPotect, the transition for right's holders and document submission process can take months, if occurring at all. In the meantime, the AliProtect infringement team refuses to act on the counterfeits, including dangerous and potentially deadly items.

For example; The Counterfeit Report enforces right's infringement for Composite Resources, who supplies their patented, FDA-registered Combat Application Tourniquet® (C-A-T®) medical tourniquet to the U.S. Military, police departments, first responders, and the public worldwide, and has for the past decade. Counterfeit versions of the C-A-T tourniquet have catastrophically failed during actual life-saving applications. Over 3 million infringing items were found on just on Alibaba subsidiary, AliExpress. Despite repeated formal notifications, trademark submissions, inspection affidavits, and even a dozen test purchases, Alibaba still ignores the trademark infringement and refuses to remove counterfeit items. Consumers are deceived, yet Alibaba still profits on the transactions.

Could you identify the infringements in this AliExpress counterfeit product listing? The AliProtect team couldn't, and the item remains listed even after a test purchase by The Counterfeit Report. Combat Application Tourniquet® and C-A-T® are registered trademarks for the patented, medical life-saving device. Alibaba went as far as to claim "the seller has provided the authorization file from the brand owner to proved(sic) the item was original," but won't provide the fraudulent document from the counterfeit seller.

Inexplicably, Alibaba, a billion dollar company, doesn't even have telephone customer or intellectual property infringement support. Calls to U.S. Corporate Headquarters (408) 785-5580 go unanswered, and there is no response to messages left. Inexplicably, Alibaba's emails requesting information state "Please do not reply to this email/message. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response" and users are directed to an Alibaba web-form that won't accept document files.

Alibaba’s Intellectual Property Protection (IPP) website splash screen posts spokesperson Michael Evan's attempt to refute counterfeit allegations claiming “The persistence of some level of counterfeit listings on a platform the scale of Alibaba despite our massive efforts is not evidence of insincerity, bad faith, a lack of adequate expenditure. We are not claiming perfection, but we are claiming progress, along with an unwavering commitment to continue this fight by partnering across industries and borders with others to solve this global problem.” Actions speak louder than words.

Jack Ma, China’s bad-boy of counterfeits, could adopt real and effective solutions in clear, truthful and professional manner to end the counterfeiting problem he enables.

Will he, or will the Alibaba platform continue being the go-to website for fakes?