Alibaba sued for allegedly selling counterfeit items

image:bizjournal

Luxury brands maker has filed a new lawsuit accusing the Chinese online retail giant Alibaba of conspiring in the manufacture and sale of counterfeit products.

Kering Paris-based brands include Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, and other luxury brands, charged in the lawsuit on Friday that Alibaba had intentionally allowed counterfeiters to sell imitations of their products throughout the world.

A spokesman for Alibaba Group responded in an email: "We continue to work in partnership with numerous brands to help them protect their intellectual property, and we have a strong track record of doing so. Unfortunately, Kering Group has chosen the path of wasteful litigation instead of the path of constructive cooperation. We believe this complaint has no basis and we will fight it vigorously."

This happens to be the second lawsuit filed against Alibaba in the past year from Kering. He previously withdrew a similar suit in July while it worked toward a resolution with Alibaba.

The lawsuit stated that Alibaba "provided the marketplace advertising and other essential services necessary for counterfeiters to sell their counterfeit products to customers in the United States."

You may recall that when  Alibaba filed for its massive initial public offering in the US a year ago, it took aim at counterfeiters and pirates who sell products through its e-commerce sites.

In 2014 a company reported that it discovered a counterfeit version of its products on Alibaba, and, within days, the listing was removed. In February of last year, Alibaba reported that it had removed over 100 million allegedly counterfeit products from its listings, according to Reuters.

credit: cnet