The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has released the 2021 edition (pdf) from its list of online services and physical facilities known for infringement and abuse of intellectual property. WeChat messaging and the AliExpress e-commerce platform are appearing there.
China still at the top of counterfeiting
This list was created in 2011 with the aim of raising awareness among the public, businesses and governments of the services most likely to facilitate the sale of counterfeit products and the theft of intellectual property. The 42 online services and 35 physical facilities listed do not represent an exhaustive list and do not risk penalties other than bad publicity.
Semiconductor sales at the top in 2021
In total 20% of the list comes from China. According to the USTR report, “ China remains the world’s number one source of counterfeit goods “. According to US Customs, 79% of counterfeits seized in the United States in 2020 came from the Middle Kingdom. The country is also singled out for the exploitation of its workers specializing in counterfeiting, particularly in Xinjiang, a province of the oppressed Uyghur minority.
On the list, for physical locations is for example a tourist market in Shanghai described as an “underground labyrinth” filled with counterfeit goods. For Internet, listed Pinduoduo, one of China’s largest online retailers, Taobao, Alibaba’s online shopping site, Baidu Wangpan, a cloud storage service, DHgate.com, other e-commerce site .
Alibaba and Tencent say they are ready to improve the situation on their platforms
AliExpress and WeChat have been added to the series. For the first, the USTR specifies, according to Bloomberg, that Alibaba is implementing effective anti-counterfeiting systems, but is seeing a worrying rise in such products on the platform. The low level of verification of WeChat’s e-commerce service would be a concern.
In both cases, the owners of intellectual rights report late consideration of their complaints and the complexity of having the incriminated products withdrawn. For Katherine Taï, US Trade Ambassador, “ The Global Trade in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods Harms Critical U.S. Innovation and Creativity and Harms American Workers “.
Alibaba said it is aware of the challenges of protecting intellectual property and says it is ” fully committed to advancing its leadership in this area “. The company said it was ready to work with governments to understand and resolve any issues on their platforms. If Tencent, owner of WeChat, has shown the same desire, the Chinese giant has made known its “profound disagreement with the decision taken”. The two companies have until the next edition, that of 2022, to show their credentials.