Alibaba has made it even easier over the past year for rights holders to access and use its IP protection program. Leading brands, SMEs and industry associations – including some of our most-vocal critics – have voiced their support for and satisfaction with its brand-protection efforts. As a sign of that, and the program’s continuing success, the number of registered rights holders rose 11% year-on-year. At the same time, the number of takedown requests dropped 25% – a direct result of Alibaba’s ability to remove infringing listings before they go live. In fact, 98% of these proactive takedowns happened before a single sale could be made, and Alibaba’s platform-governance team handled 97% of all takedown requests within 24 hours. Offline, Alibaba has continued its IP protection work, providing leads to law enforcement that resulted in over 1,000 arrests and the closure of nearly 1,000 manufacturing and distribution locations. Scroll down to see an infographic of Alibaba’s recent IP and brand-protection efforts.