Alibaba Has A Counterfeiting Problem

American trade officials added Alibaba Group’s online shopping bazaar to their list of the world’s most notorious markets for counterfeit goods. The move is a setback for the Chinese firm, which successfully lobbied to be taken off the list four years ago. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative acknowledged Alibaba’s increased efforts to eliminate fakes, but said they were not enough. Alibaba’s Taobao marketplace “is an important concern due to the large volume of allegedly counterfeit and pirated goods available and the challenges rights holders experience in removing and preventing illicit sales and offers of such goods,” the agency told the New York Times. “[C]urrent levels of reported counterfeiting and piracy are unacceptably high.”