AMOREPACIFIC Group (Chairman and CEO Suh Kyung-bae) and Alibaba Group (founder and chairman Ma Yun) announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) at the headquarters of Alibaba Group in Hangzhou, China. The MOU agreement was signed by Cecile Sujung Kwon, AMOREPACIFIC Group’s Senior Vice President of Intellectual Property Division and. senior manager Wang Xinghao at Alibaba Group’s Market Management Division, International Cooperation Team.
Both Alibaba and AMOREPACIFIC agreed that their MOU would allow them to work more closely together to curb online distribution and sales of counterfeit products, an emerging social problem in China, so as to build a sound e-commerce environment for the benefit and protection of Chinese customers. They will promote communication, share information regarding forgeries and, at the same time, strengthen online surveillance and inspections of products sold on Alibaba’s online markets.
In particular, as part of the efforts to expand intellectual property rights (IPR) protection activities and prevent the occurrence of IPR infringements in the Chinese online marketplaces, both parties have agreed to enforce strict punitive measures if any violation of IPR occurs, specifically on two of Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms - Taobao Marketplace and Tmall.com. The measures include taking down counterfeit product listings, publicly disclosing information of the violator on the platform and imposing strict penalties and/or punishment for violation.
"“To be successful in fighting counterfeiters, online platforms, brand owners and merchants must work together. Only when we collaborate, we will all be effective in this task. The MOU builds upon months of positive and productive interactions between AMOREPACIFIC Group and Alibaba Group. We believe this is an important step towards improving IPR protection for the multiple brands under AMOREPACIFIC. With the growing popularity of Korean products among Chinese consumers, we hope to work with more Korean brand owners to effectively identify and battle IPR-infringing activities online.,” said senior manager Wang Xinghao at Alibaba Group’s Market Management Division, International Cooperation Team.
“This MOU will add strength to both companies’ efforts to crack down counterfeits in online marketplaces. Through these efforts we will promote constructive development of e-commerce market in China and protect our customers from fake products” said Cecile Sujung Kwon, AMOREPACIFIC Group’s Senior Vice President of Intellectual Property Division.
Meanwhile, in order to protect its customers’ health and best interests, AMOREPACIFIC Group has tightened its monitoring against IPR infringement in online marketplaces around the world. It also has been cooperating with the Chinese government and various distribution channels to crack down on counterfeit-producing factories, counterfeit-selling shops, and/or sales channels. AMOREPACIFIC Group is also open to signing additional MOUs with other industry players to strengthen its anti-counterfeit policy so that its Chinese customers can always trust its products.