Paipai.com removed from US fake goods blacklist

The Office of the US Trade Representative said in its report on Wednesday that paipai.com, an e-commerce website owned by Chinese Internet giant Tencent Inc, has been removed from its yearly list of the world's most "notorious markets", a distinction they earned for being awash with pirated and counterfeit goods.

The report said that the Chinese website had taken various measures to address complaints about its role in facilitating the distribution of pirated and counterfeit goods.

"Paipai.com has committed to maintaining efforts made in 2013 while expanding its work with right holders to include the business and entertainment software and other content industries. PaiPai.com has been removed from the list, but we will continue to monitor paipai.com's effort," said the report.

The list, which identifies online and physical markets around the world that harm American businesses and undermine their workers through the infringement of intellectual property rights, has been published by USTR every year since 2006.

Chinese companies are clearly making progress in fighting pirated and fake goods. Taobao.com, which is owned by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, is one of the leading B2C marketplaces and was removed from the USTR list in 2012. Meanwhile, Baidu Inc, another Chinese Internet giant, was removed from the list in 2011.

However, a number of Chinese markets still remain blacklisted. According to USTR, five of the 16 listed physical markets known for pirated and counterfeit goods are located in China.

The five markets are among the most well known in China, including Beijing's Silk Market and Guangzhou's Garment Wholesale Center.