Alibaba expands ant-counterfeiting network

Alibaba has a dozen new collaborators in its intellectual property rights protection efforts since an alliance was set up two years ago. 

Dyson, Li-Ning and Coach are the latest to join the Anti-counterfeiting Alliance, which has more than 130 members. Members include brands from 16 countries and regions.

"We've been pushing for clear penalties for counterfeiting  from national  legislators," said platform officer Jessie Zheng.

Alibaba has faced criticism over the sales of counterfeits by third party vendors on its retail sites, and has set up channels for information sharing to allow a shorter processing time.

Lu Zhengmin, vice commissioner of the national leading group on the fight against IPR infringement, said the group's work on IPR was important to enhancing business environment and innovation.

Alibaba said it had helped in the closure of 524 production rackets, arrests of 1,227 suspects and seizure of fakes valued at 3.6 billion yuan (US$530 million).

In a high profile case, Shanghai police arrested a gang that made fake Dyson hair dryers and seized about 400 fakes, 1,500 half-finished products and over 200,000 parts.