Paris-based luxury group Kering announced on Thursday that it has reached a groundbreaking agreement with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to fight the sale of fake products of its brands.
As the owner of famous luxury brands Gucci and Saint Laurent, Kering has been working with the Chinese tech behemoth to take action against sellers of counterfeit products both online and offline making use of Alibaba's advanced technology capabilities, the French company said in a statement.
As part of the agreement, Kering will dismiss a lawsuit it filed against Alibaba and Alipay in May 2015 regarding the alleged invasion of its intellectual property rights.
According to Fortune, the lawsuit claimed that Alibaba and 14 other firms that sell fake products on its online shopping platform joined hands to form an enterprise that sought to profit from fake items at low prices, such as a knock-off Gucci handbag that sold for 18.99 US dollars instead of 1,250 dollars.
Kering is not the only company that has complained about counterfeit products sold on Alibaba's shopping platform. American Apparel and Footwear Association, of which Levi's and Under Armour are members, and Louis Vuitton have also expressed criticism at the online market.
The Hangzhou-based tech giant has taken a stand on fighting fake goods on its platform, Taobao. Alibaba's CEO Jack Ma said in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal in 2016, that the company has "zero tolerance for those who rip off other people's intellectual property."
Ma called on China's top regulators this year to make tougher prison sentences and penalties on sellers of fake goods. The Chinese billionaire has already cooperated with brands including Nike and Adidas to take down fake athletic shoes, watches and bags from Alibaba's online trading platform Taobao to purify the shopping environment for its customers, Bloomberg has said.
