Alibaba claims that the company has spent more than $160 million in its crusade to eliminate fake products in its e-commerce website. This figure encompasses their spending's starting Jan 2013 until Nov of this year.
The Chinese e-commerce giant has released official statement that they will be hiring an additional 200 more employees to its workforce of more than 2,000 workers in order to subdue the increasing amount of counterfeit products being sold in their website. Additionally, the company already has more than 5,400 volunteer workers who are aiding the company in its daily scrutiny of counterfeit goods.
The occurrence of fake and counterfeit products is still a major problem in China.
Alibaba recently offered its IPO in the New York Stock exchange for a record setting $25 billion. However during a stakeholder's conference, the e-commerce giant said that the endless emergence of counterfeit products being sold in their website can deeply hurt its credibility and could ultimately lead to loss of customer satisfaction.
In a related incident, Alibaba's US counterpart E-Bay claims based on court document filed in 2010 that the company spends more than $20 million per year on "buyer protection programs". This safety arrangement comprises of issuing reimbursements to buyers who have managed to buy fake or counterfeit products in the company website.
Alibaba Chief Executive Jonathan Lu issued an official announcement saying, "We bear a serious responsibility in this fights against counterfeits".
United States Trade Representative has listed Alibaba on a list of "notorious markets" for violation of Intellectual Property Infringement. The inclusion was only lifted last 2012.
Based government reports, China and Hong Kong accounts for more than 93% of the total counterfeits and Intellectual Property infringing goods seized by the United States Customs during the fiscal year of 2013.
Chinese authorities along with Alibaba have launched multiple initiative and projects in order to put a stop on the increasing incidents of counterfeiting. Just this year along, Alibaba has collaborated with the Chinese government in the investigation of more than 1,000 counterfeiting cases.
