Luxury industry builds up forces against Ma Yun

Alibaba, the world’s largest online retailer, promised to crack down on counterfeit and shoddy goods, but there have been no indications that foreign luxury brands have achieved results. Following Michael Kors, Italian luxury brand Gucci also publicly stated that it has withdrawn from the IACC to join the opposition Alibaba camp. The goods industry is assembling forces against Ma Yun.

IACC is an international non-profit organization specializing in combating fake and shoddy products. It owns more than 250 luxury fashion brand members. Members of the IACC also include law firms, investigation and product safety companies, government agencies and intellectual property associations. All members of these institutions are committed to combating counterfeit and shoddy goods, leaving the industry's industry puzzling with its platform for selling counterfeit goods. Alibaba also officially joined the IACC in April this year.

Since Alibaba joined the IACC, Michael Kors, a New York-based American luxury brand, has announced that it has withdrawn from the organization. Lee Sporn, Michael Kors’ long-term legal advisor, said in a letter to the IACC that Alibaba is the most dangerous presence in the fashion industry. Alibaba’s strategy is limited to verbally supporting brand law enforcement, but the issue of counterfeits on its trading platform has not been resolved. Michael Kors does not currently have an online flagship store on any platform of Alibaba. However, luxury retailers investing in Alibaba.com have luxury products to sell.

Last weekend, Gucci's name was also formally removed from the IACC's brand membership list. Canicice Li-Uzoigwe, IACC’s vice president, pointed out that Alibaba’s accession has caused a lot of dissatisfaction with luxury and fashion brands, and Gucci decided on Wednesday to formally leave the organization and join the camp against Alibaba. Earlier, the French accessories brand Longchamp also publicly expressed dissatisfaction with Alibaba’s membership.

Gucci's parent company, Kaiyun Group, has always been fierce in its presence on the Chinese market. In May of last year, Gwangju Group’s luxury brands Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent jointly filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court in Manhattan, accusing Alibaba of allegedly violating relevant laws and regulations concerning trademark and fraud, requesting compensation for damages and issuing a ban on the defendant. The lawsuit stated that Alibaba had collaborated with manufacturers to produce counterfeit goods and provided services for its sales and transportation. These counterfeit goods use branded trademarks without permission. In November of the same year, Kaiyun Group filed a lawsuit against Alibaba for the same reason for the second time.

Previously, Forbes magazine reported that Alibaba founder and board of directors Ma Yun expressed that he would rather lose the case and did not want this issue to be resolved. On a report published on Forbes website on November 6 last year, Ma Yun spoke of the fact that Kaiyun Group sued Alibaba.com for infringing on its trademark rights and selling counterfeit goods. It almost jumped from the sofa and said, "I would rather lose. If you lose this lawsuit, you would rather lose money. "But we will win dignity and respect."

However, an insider close to the Forbes interview with Alibaba believes that Forbes's interview and article writing are full of subjective factors and prejudices against the Chinese market. In fact, Ma Yun described the matter more comprehensively, but they only intercepted it. "These fragments they hope to get" and stitch these paragraphs together.

Later, the incident reversed. Due to the strong market share of Alibaba's e-commerce business, Kaiyun Group began to accept the mediation. Some people in the industry believe that Alibaba Group owns Taobao and Tmall Mall platform, but it is a member who has problems and its platform is fake and inferior. The IACC's membership is mainly provided by companies affected by counterfeit goods and seeking intellectual property protection. However, due to Alibaba Group's industry status and related policies, it has the opportunity to cooperate with potential partners in combating counterfeit and pirated goods. Cooperation.

Barbara Kolsun, former general counsel of Stuart Weitzman, a high-end footwear brand, served as the IACC board of directors. He disclosed to the Wall Street Journal last week that about 20 brands and other members of the IACC had privately communicated via email and telephone. Michael Kors acted supportively. However, they are reluctant to speak out because they are working with Alibaba to remove counterfeit goods from their websites.

Some analysts have said that due to sluggish performance in recent years, in the luxury goods market in China, more and more giants have joined the fight against counterfeiting. The luxury brand Louis Vuitton appealed to the Beijing court earlier this year that three shopkeepers had sold fake Louis Vuitton brand products and claimed a claim of RMB 250,000. The owner of the shop was the Taobao e-commerce platform owned by Alibaba Group.

As a leader in the luxury goods industry, Louis Vuitton’s parent company, LVMH, is also a member of the IACC. Up to now, there has been no comment on the ongoing withdrawal of luxury brands from the IACC.

According to the latest news on the official website of the IACC, Ma Yun will attend the IACC Spring 2016 conference from May 18 to May 20. At the keynote speech meeting, he will publish issues on the importance of e-commerce and work with the industry to combat counterfeiting and highlight the efforts of Alibaba to protect intellectual property on its platform.

It is still more than a week before leaving the curtain speech. As more and more luxury brands withdraw from the IACC to join the opposition Alibaba camp, how Alibaba will handle this incident will become the focus of domestic and foreign media.