Alibaba joins forces with Kering against counterfeits after lawsuit is dropped

Chinese internet giant, Alibaba, is said to be working with luxury

conglomerate Kering to crack down on the sale of counterfeit items, after the French company withdrew its lawsuit against Alibaba.

The lawsuit claims accused the Chinese e-commerce firm of knowingly engaging in violating the company’s trademarks, but was dropped after discussions between the two parties, said a spokeswoman from Alibaba to Bloomberg.

“Kering and Alibaba have agreed to work together in good faith through the normal business process on ways to enhance intellectual property protection,” said the companies in separate statements. Although Kering has dropped its lawsuit against Alibaba, the company will continue to take legal action against the merchants mentioned in the lawsuit filing.

Alibaba, who is currently preparing for what may be the biggest initial public offering the US, has been coming down hard on number of counterfeiters operating on its online platforms by banning listings which may violate intellectual property rights.

The online giant has been working hard to encourage more luxury labels to sign up to its marketplace sites and has pledged to remove discounted products not authorized by luxury labels, if they open store fronts on Tmall. Before British luxury label Burberry opened its official store on Tmall this April, Alibaba is said to have removed over 50 unauthorized merchants which sold products from the label.

Alibaba previously signed an agreement with the UK government last December which stipulated that unauthorized sellers of UK labels would be removed from its websites if brand owners would launch an official store on Tmall. Alibaba crack down on counterfeiters is thought to help make the Chinese Internet giant more appealing for Western labels and help attract investors ahead of its listing on the New York Stock Exchange.