A new online channel for consumers to report suspicions of counterfeit goods or fake shops offline was opened by China's e-commerce giant Alibaba on Tuesday, another step by the enterprise to improve protection of intellectual property.
In the past, consumers were only allowed to report fake products they found on the company's online shopping platforms, such as Taobao. "But now, thanks to the new reporting channel, they can also provide evidence of issues at real shops," said Li Xihan, who is in charge of IP protection in the enterprise.
If a consumer suspects commodities sold in a shopping mall are counterfeit or thinks they infringe IP rights, he or she can submit the evidence, including pictures and the store's location, through the reporting channel opened on Alipay, the company's mobile payment application, according to Li.
After receiving the evidence, "we'll take advantage of our technologies to do the data matching and send them to the IP owners and trademark registrants to verify whether the reported goods are counterfeit or not," he said.
The company is also closely cooperating with judicial authorities and can pass infringement incidences to them once they are verified by the trademark owners.
Successful reports or useful evidence will be identified by Alipay as consumer action for public welfare, and their credit records can be improved in this way. The new channel also aims to encourage consumers to play a role in fighting counterfeits, "as taking a photo that can both protect their legitimate rights in consumption and contribute to safeguarding IP rights for them is just a matter of lifting a finger," Li added.
Source: China Daily
