Alibaba Group was awarded World Trademark Review’s Asia Pacific Team of the Year for its work in brand protection on Tuesday night in Boston.
The e-commerce giant was chosen from a group of companies that also included Tencent, French food company Danone, French fashion house Louis Vuitton Malletier and Treasury Wine Estates of Australia. This is the third time that Alibaba won a World Trademark Review award. The company was APAC Team of the Year in 2015, as well, while in 2014 it was named China Team of the Year.
WTR, a leading intellectual-property publication, highlights “important work carried out by … teams and individuals that are performing their functions to the highest possible standards.” Among the criteria for the awards are active prosecution and enforcement of trademarks in the relevant jurisdiction or field of industry, strong industry and regional expertise and a global attitude toward brand expansion and IP protection.
“We are deeply honored to be recognized for our success in protecting intellectual property rights on our platforms. By leveraging our partnerships with brands and cutting-edge technologies, our brand-protection efforts continue to grow in both scale and effectiveness each year. Our proven results are a testament to the successful collaborative approach we take to defend IP rights, and we are committed to continuing this important work moving forward,” said Alibaba Vice President and Head of Global Intellectual Property Enforcement Matthew Bassiur.
The award was one of many given out by WTR, including also teams of the year in other regions of the world, such as North America and Latin America, industries such as retail, sports and consumer electronics.Winners this year counted global brands such as Mars, Daniel Wellington, Adidas, Netflix, Intel, HBO and Toyota.
Alibaba’s IP protection team was already in Boston for the annual spring conferences of the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition and the International Trademark Association (INTA), which took place over the past week. At the IACC conference, Alibaba hosted roundtable discussions along with other platforms to allow brand owners to develop relationships, ask questions and learn about IP protection best practices and resources in a small group setting. Alibaba also participated in a panel about offline investigations with P&G, the UK Anti-Counterfeiting Group, Western Union and the U.S. Department of Justice.
In addition, Alibaba took part in an ongoing E-Commerce Working Group coordinated by the National IPR Coordination Center. The working group brings together leading e-commerce companies, shippers, payment services and several U.S. federal agencies, such as ICE, FBI and the Department of Justice to, among other important functions, help target large-scale traffickers in counterfeit goods. On Friday, Alibaba hosted events to engage with online IP service providers and share the latest updates on its IP Protection Platform with brands.
In his opening remarks on Thursday, IACC President Bob Barchiesi applauded Alibaba’s leadership in IP protection and the strong results from IACC’s collaboration with Alibaba. “We partnered with Alibaba when others expressed skepticism, and history proves us right,” he said.
The collaboration between IACC and Alibaba on the IACC MarketSafe Expansion Program took down hundreds of thousands of infringing listings and permanently banned more than 15,000 bad sellers, according to the IACC.
During the INTA conference this week, Alibaba hosted roundtable discussions with senior leaders from current Alibaba Anti-Counterfeiting Alliance member companies to discuss the alliance’s initiatives and issues critical to brand protection. Throughout the two conferences, Alibaba met with more than 25 brands one-on-one to exchange information and ideas about IP protection, and explored ways to strengthen collaboration.
Alibaba last week also released its annual brand-protection report. Highlights from the report include:
- 96% of proactively removed listings eliminated before a single sale took place.
- Rights holder takedown requests declined 32% year-over-year.
- 96% of removal requests submitted through Alibaba’s Intellectual Property Protection Platform (IPP Platform) during business days processed within 24 hours.
- The number of listings removed in response to consumer reports of suspected counterfeits dropped 70% yoy.
- Offlinecollaborations with brandsandlaw enforcementresulted in more arrests and the closure of more illicit facilities than 2018.
Read the full report here.
