No settlement in Gucci counterfeit lawsuit against Alibaba, Jack Ma says he'd rather lose the money
Alibaba founder Jack Ma has said that there is no chance of a settlement in a lawsuit filed earlier this year by Paris-based Kering SA, which represents upmarket fashion and lifestyle designer brands such as Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, accusing China's largest online commerce company of turning a blind eye to sellers hawking fake merchandise.
"I would rather lose the case and lose the money, instead of losing our dignity and respect," Jack Ma is quoted as saying by Forbes via Apple Daily.
The lawsuit was filed on May 15 at a Manhattan federal court, claiming damages and a court order against Alibaba for an alleged breach of trademark and racketeering laws.
Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that Alibaba and its entities "provide the marketplace advertising and other essential services necessary for counterfeiters to sell their counterfeit products to customers in the United States."
The always charming Ma said that upholding intellectual property rights is simply not a black and white issue. He stressed that Alibaba cares about the rights of both online sellers and brand-name companies.
Taobao was named by the US Trade Representative on its list of most "notorious markets" for fake goods until 2012.
On Wednesday, Alibaba can look forward to Singles' Day, the biggest shopping day of the year in China. Last year, Alibaba sales soared past $6 billion and are only expected to be higher this year, which should help to make up the loss in case they do actually lose this lawsuit.
Luxury global brands hit Alibaba with counterfeit-goods lawsuit in New York
Luxury goods makers have filed a lawsuit against Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, China's largest online commerce company, accusing it of consciously permitting its users to sell fake merchandise, reports Shanghai Daily.
Paris-based Kering SA, which represents upmarket fashion and lifestyle designer brands such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen, filed the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court, claiming damages and a court order against Alibaba for an alleged breach of trademark and racketeering laws.
Specifically, the plaintiffs allege that Alibaba and its entities "provide the marketplace advertising and other essential services necessary for counterfeiters to sell their counterfeit products to customers in the United States."
An Alibaba spokesperson has pledged that the company will 'vigorously' fight the lawsuit, which seeks an injunction to prohibit Alibaba from offering or facilitating the sale of knock-off goods and monetary compensation based on the number of counterfeit items sold.
Jack Ma looks to charm the pants off American small business owners
Jack Ma launched a major charm offensive in the U.S. this week, aimed straight at the heart of America—the small business owner—with the goal of expanding Alibaba's international presence by attracting American businesses. In the process, Ma also hopes to help usher in a new era of global peace and prosperity.
In a speech hosted by the Economic Club of New York, the founder and executive of Alibaba Group said he wants to help American small businesses grow—even declaring Alibaba's commitment to creating American jobs— by helping the "little guy" connect with consumers in the vast global digital marketplace. Quartz favorably compared Ma's pandering to small business owners to that of an American politician making a bid for presidency.
In his "stump speech," Ma mentioned Alaskan fisherman and Washington cherry farmers as just a few examples of local American businesses helped by his company. Ma said that as incomes rise in China, Chinese consumers will increasingly demand higher quality products and a more diverse range of goods. And that's where American producers come in:
"China has been focused on exporting for the past 20 years, and I think in the next 10 to 20 years China should be focusing on importing. China should learn to buy, China should spend the money, China should buy a lot of its things globally. And I think that American small business, American-branded products, should use the Internet and go to China."
Alibaba already accounts for 80 percent of all Chinese online consumer shopping. Ma said he eventually wants 40 percent of sales to come from outside China. He's got some more speeches to make, right now it's at 2 percent.
Apart from job creation and other domestic issues, Ma also touched on international issues important to the American voter. Most notably, he predicted an upcoming World War III, but not to worry, it's not the one you may think:
"The third world war is going to happen, and this war is not between nations. In this war we work together against the disease, the poverty, the climate change—and I believe this is our future."
Instead of fighting for global supremacy, Ma says he sees the US and China working together to combat dangerous social ills. In this fight, Ma adds the internet will play a key role. Ma went further spoke further on his diplomatic vision after participating in a town hall-style event in Chicago, telling CNBC that he is "pretty confident" that current US-China tensions will pass. Ma based his predictions partly on the promise shown by today's open-minded youth and says that companies should be thinking the same way:
"The younger generation is always better than (the) last generation. If you want to keep this company innovative, if you want the company to catch the future, keep the vision, rely on the young people."
Ma also shocked observers when discussing Alibaba's record-shattering $25 billion initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange last year that made Ma the richest man in Asia. Actually, he'd like a do-over on the whole thing.
"Now, after the IPO, it's much worse. If I had another life, I would keep my company private." After all, money don't mean a thing to Ma.
Watch as Ma locks up the youth vote, as well as the support of small business owners in his speech to the Economic Club of New York:
As the low price would suggest, these phone are most likely "non-working shells", but it seems some people are so desperate to have the latest model that they'll buy the fakes just so it looks like they can afford an iPhone, Quartz's Lily Kuo points out. As the marketing ad reflects, it's “A poor man’s must have”.
Other customers may purchase these shells just because they love Apple—either way, it's a slightly depressing reality.
Its common for fully functioning copies of the latest gadgetry to be produced before their actual release in China, especially with iPhones. Not only because knockoffs are "big business" here, but also because many of these, including the latest iPhone update, are produced by the Taiwanese subcontractor firm, Foxconn, who manufactures in China and Taiwan.
This was the case in 2012 before the iPhone 5 was released. Counterfeit versions were produced by throwing together recycled iPhone parts and by copying leaked predictions of the design specs. In an attempt to try and prevent this from happening with the 5s, Apple launched the new model concurrently in the US and China to block counterfeiters who bulk buy them in Hong Kong.
Seeing as there have been multiple leakages as far as the iPhone 6 is concerned, speculation suggests that "manufacturing is probably already underway" despite questions surrounding whether Lin's model is the real deal or not.
Fake English-language certifications selling for 1 yuan on Taobao
Many Chinese students have recently taken their 'College English Test' (CET 4 or 6) the second most stressful English exam in China, dwarfed only by the Gaokao. As the results start coming back, a cottage industry has blossomed on taobao selling, of course, counterfeit certificates.
Taobao wizards are promising authentic-looking certificates, customized with names, admission numbers, and various personal data points, which "are safe as employers do not check on them." Cheap certificates are selling for as cheap as 1RMB (but, let's be real, you likely get what you pay for here) while the fancy fakes are hitting as high as 3,680 yuan.
China Daily has published a nice little piece warning job applicants that, oh hey, applying for work with a 1 yuan fake English certificate might be a little bit unethical. Apparently, employees hired with faked certificates "may lose their jobs," to put it lightly, and could potentially face legal consequences for fraud.
Selling such certificates is technically a violation of taobao's service agreement, and we know how strictly the online marketplace cracks down on fake goods.
Louis Vuitton targeting fake handbags on Taobao, buy one while you still can
It seems that China, known around the globe as the fake handbag capital of the world, might be soon be getting a better rep. Louis Vuitton and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba are teaming up with Taobao to crackdown on the number of fake LV bags that pass through their virtual aisles.
Alibaba says that Taobao will now remove any product listings that they suspect are counterfeit, and start to apply preventative measures to the site to weed out other phony goods. This is part of a bigger agreementAlibaba signed last August with the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition to break down the market for pirated stuff.
So if you still want that fake Louis, you might want to keep your search off the internet and hit up the Fake Market.
Singles' Day shoppers outdo themselves as Alibaba sales soar past $6 billion
Online retailer Alibaba says it's sold more than 6 billion USD worth of goods so far during Singles' Day, or "Double 11", a non-official holiday that has become the country's biggest online shopping day of the year.
Frenzied shoppers jumped on discounted items at record pace, checking out with around 2 billion USD worth of items within just the first hour of Singles' Day, BBC reports.
Last year, the day of singledom brought in a total of 35 billion RMB, the smallest of potatoes compared to what spenders are expected to drop by the end of today.
Reuters reports:
More than 39 billion yuan ($6.4 billion) worth of goods was sold on the e-commerce giant's websites 15 hours into the event on Tuesday, with another nine to go.
Less than eight weeks after its public share listing in New York, which set its own $25 billion record, expectations for this year are high. […] Tech research firm IDC predicts this year's total gross merchandise volume (GMV) will reach $8.62 billion.
