Faced with mounting pressure to combat fake goods, Alibaba has found a new tactic to deter dubious sellers on its e-commerce platforms--by bringing them to court.
This month, Alibaba caught online sellers of counterfeit Swarovski watches on online shopping website Taobao, Forbes reported.
The sellers were identified using Alibaba's big data analytics program, which led to a "test-buy-purchase" trap.
According to Forbes, Swarovski confirmed that the identified products were counterfeits. Alibaba filed a lawsuit that sought $200,000 in damages.
Aside from this, the Jack Ma-owned company also took the case a step further by tipping the police. A raid was conducted, seizing about $294,000 worth of fake watches. The suspects were arrested and are now facing criminal complaints.
E-commerce giant Amazon is also going the same route as Alibaba in fighting against fakes. Last year, the company filed a lawsuit against online sellers of bogus sports equipment by TRX and Forearm Forklift, a patented product for moving heavy items.
This bold move by two of the biggest e-commerce names carves a new step in countering the worsening problem of fake goods sold online.
"At minimum, they send a message to counterfeiters that Amazon and Alibaba will be doing more against counterfeiters than just removing their products from their e-commerce websites," Dan Harris, an expert in Chinese IP and global e-commerce law, told Forbes in an interview.
He, however, thinks that this problem is "massive" and it is up to the company to "lead its own fight."
Alibaba has long been in the hot seat for failing to put an end to counterfeit items advertised on its e-commerce platforms.
Last year, the U.S. Office of the Trade Representative put Taobao, Alibaba's online retailer site, back onto the list of "notorious counterfeit platforms.
The company's last appearance on the list was in 2012.
Alibaba, meanwhile, raised its eyebrows over the decision, with company president Michael Evans saying via Fortune that it "ignores the real work [the company] has done to protect IP rights holders and assist law enforcement to bring counterfeits to justice."