The Notorious Market list Includes E-Commerce Sites By Alibaba and Tencent

Tencent Holdings Ltd and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd own e-commerce platforms that have been included to the US government’s latest “Notorious marketplaces” list, according to the US Trade Representative’s office. The list includes 42 online markets and 35 physical markets that have been accused of engaging in or facilitating significant trademark counterfeiting or copyright theft.

This includes recognising AliExpress and the WeChat e-commerce ecosystem for the first time, two major China-based online markets that are said to allow considerable trademark counterfeiting. The list continues to include China-based online markets Baidu Wangpan, DHGate, Pinduoduo, and Taobao, as well as nine physical markets in China “that are recognised for the manufacture, distribution, and sale of counterfeit goods,” according to the US Trade Representative’s office.

Alibaba stated that it will continue to cooperate with government agencies to address intellectual property protection challenges across its platforms. Tencent expressed its strong opposition to the decision and stated that it was dedicated to working together to fix the issue. It went on to say that it regularly monitored, discouraged, and prosecuted infractions across all of its platforms, and that it had put enormous resources into protecting intellectual property rights.

Companies’ reputations suffer as a result of their inclusion on the list, although there are no immediate consequences. The research was praised by industry groups such as the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) and the Motion Picture Association. For years, trade tensions have existed between the United States and China on topics such as taxes, technology, and intellectual property, among others.