Forces fighting fake goods would be more effective working together

A view of Alibaba Group's headquarters in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, March 21, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

ON MONDAY, DOMESTIC E-COMMERCE GIANT ALIBABA announced that in 2016 it had found 4,495 instances of businesses making or selling fake goods. The judiciary investigated 1,184 of them, yet only 33 people have received sentences. Beijing News comments:

Fake goods have always been a major headache for Alibaba. Yet the number of people found guilty of making and selling fake goods is so small that people accuse the judiciary of not enforcing the law properly.

This is not the case, as the judiciary has on several occasions vowed to strike the illegal interest chain of counterfeit goods. The true cause is Alibaba has the information while the judiciary has the power, yet the two do not work well together to tackle the issue.

E-commerce platforms such as Alibaba have information on all the businesses they host. For instance, the IP address, physical address and ID number of anybody who sells goods on their platform is recorded, and Alibaba could easily locate a seller identified as retailer of fake goods. Yet Alibaba does not have the power to enforce law, so it cannot punish the fake goods sellers, nor is it the holder of the trademarks being violated so it cannot sue the fake goods sellers.

The judiciary has the power but lacks the necessary evidence to prove a case, since, when it comes to e-commerce, the judiciary's evidence requirements are not up to date with modern technologies.

The companies holding trademarks, the e-commerce platform, and the judiciary are all working to fight fake goods, but it seems they are working in different directions and they lack the necessary coordination.

This situation must be changed. The judiciary needs to upgrade its concept of evidence and learn more about modern technologies, while the e-commerce platforms need to explain their evidence in plainer words, so that the forces fighting against fake goods can more effectively unite.