Jack Ma's comment that fake products made today are "better quality and
better priced" than the real goods should not be taken as a reflection
of the company's failure to curb counterfeits, counterfeit experts said.
The e-commerce CEO made his comments on Tuesday at an investor
meeting in Hangzhou. According to reports, he said the better quality of
the fake goods is due to many of them being made at similar factories,
sometimes with the same labor force using the same materials.
"They are exactly the same factories, exactly the same raw materials
but they do not use the names," Ma said, according to The Wall Street
Journal.
He also said the problem of counterfeit goods cannot be solved "100
percent, because it's the fight against human instinct", according to
The New York Times. "But we can solve the problem better than any
government, than any organization, than [anybody] in the world."
Ma's remarks were made in response to persistent criticism from
luxury brands that the company is not doing enough to get rid of
counterfeit goods on its sprawling e-commerce platform Taobao, where it
is easy to find fake designer bags and jewelry.
Peter Yu, professor of law at Texas A&M University, said in an
interview that counterfeits can be classified into various categories,
with Ma most likely referencing "A-grade" goods that are so difficult to
tell apart that they can only be verified by lab technicians or the
original manufacturer.
"From the perspective of brands, when they see fake goods on Alibaba,
they believe that Alibaba hasn't done enough to enforce and protect
intellectual property rights, and that Alibaba should do more," said Yu,
who is also co-director of the Center for Law and Intellectual Property
at Texas A&M.
"But the part of the story that isn't emphasized is how much money
and effort those auction sites have already put in to police the
networks," he said.
Yu said that fake goods are also available on eBay, Alibaba's
American equivalent, but the scale of counterfeiting in China is much
larger, so even with the resources that Alibaba is putting into combat
the proliferation of fakes, brands might still feel the efforts are
inadequate.
Alibaba had been criticized by the Chinese government for failing to
curb fakes, and late last year the US government issued a stern warning
to the company, saying it could be added back to the "Notorious Markets
List" if it does not do a better job enforcing piracy rules.
Alibaba had been admitted as a general member of the International
AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC), a group that represents many luxury
brands, but the category was suspended a month after it had been
admitted under the new category. The organization's board of directors
said the suspension was due to concerns from members of the group, which
the Journal reported included Michael Kors. A representative from
Michael Kors declined to comment.
"I think the focus of the conversation in the industry isn't to point
fingers at Alibaba or any marketplace, but about making sure that our
technologies are advanced, that they're easy to apply, track and trace,"
said Rich Cremona, CEO of OpSec, a brand protection company whose
clients include other brands in the IACC, of which it is also a member.
Cremona said in an interview that Alibaba works closely with its
clients to ensure that goods are legitimate, and that there has been a
"real effort for many of these online market places to step up
enforcement to define legitimacy".
At the investor meeting, Alibaba forecast that its sales through the
year ending March 2017 will rise at least 48 percent, which is the
company's first financial forecast since the US Securities Exchange
Commissionannounced it was investigating the company's accounting
practices.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2016-06/16/content_25731026.htm
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