LVMH is seeking compensation for economic losses from three individuals accused of selling counterfeit bags and accessories on Alibaba’s online shopping platform, Taobao. The defendants are said to have received criminal sentences in 2014 for selling counterfeit Louis Vuitton clothing, shoes, and handbags between 2011 and 2014.
The online shopping platform had agreed to proactively track down and remove listings of any counterfeit LVMH items following an agreement signed with the French luxury group in 2013.
As reported by ILM, rather than acting locally in China like LVMH, Kering decided to engage in a jurisdiction battle with the Bank of China in the U.S., and requested that a U.S. judge order the Bank of China to pay the US$12 million the brands say they have lost due to the counterfeiters, or to pay a daily fine until it hands over the records requested.
As for Alibaba, it has hired a former counterfeit investigator from Apple as its new head of global intellectual property enforcement, as the firm works to attract foreign investors and revive stock prices. The decision followed a demand from the American Apparel & Footwear Association that Alibaba be added to the “black list” of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) for fakes. Alibaba has also taken recent measures such as hiring additional staff to fight fakes and releasing an English-language version of its intellectual property reporting system.
Source: Jing Daily
