Anti-counterfeit alliance cracking down on fake products

Three months after e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba established an anti-counterfeit alliance, the 30 big international brands involved have labelled the initiative effective and fruitful.

More than 15 percent of links suspected to sell fake Bioderma skin care products on Alibaba's online shopping portal, Taobao, have been confirmed as knockoffs, Wang Liping, chief legal officer of Bioderma (Shanghai) Cosmetics Trading Co Ltd, said on Wednesday.

"We believe the accuracy rate will keep rising under the mechanism of the alliance when we share more information of our products with Alibaba to help it build a more holistic big data model to distinguish counterfeit goods," she said.

The companies involved said such novel cooperation boosts their ability to spot fake goods compared to the traditional way of purchasing products randomly from online marketplaces.

Ye Zhifei, chief of Alibaba's IP center, said registration information of online vendors, descriptions and pictures of products, prices, comments and complaints from consumers are key elements of the big data model.

The alliance released a joint communique on Wednesday voicing its determination in the anti-piracy campaign and encouraging new merchants to join.