Alibaba and Tencent added to US’s ‘Notorious Markets List’
Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Tencent have been added to the ‘Notorious Markets List’ by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) for carrying counterfeit goods.
The USTR highlights certain online and physical markets because they exemplify global counterfeiting and piracy concerns
According to the USTR, 42 online markets and 35 physical stores run by Alibaba and Tencent have been found to ”engage in or facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting or copyright privacy”. These includes AliExpress and WeChat, as well as Baidu Wangpan, DHGate, Pinduoduo and Taobao.
”The global trade in counterfeit and pirated goods undermines critical US innovation and creativity and harms American workers,” said US trade representative Katherine Tai.
“The USTR highlights certain online and physical markets because they exemplify global counterfeiting and piracy concerns and because the scale of infringing activity in these markets can cause significant harm to US IP owners, workers, consumers and the economy.”
In a statement to The Wall Street Journal, Alibaba said: “We look forward to continuing the work with governments to understand and address all concerns in IP protection across our platforms.“ Tencent has declined to comment so far.