Richemont joins Alibaba in the fight against counterfeiting

Luxury groups are fighting back against counterfeiting, a major
industry-wide dilemma that causes billions of dollars in damages each
year. Alibaba started an Anti-Counterfeiting Alliance (AACA) in
attempt to protect intellectual property rights.

The Alliance now has 115 members across 16 countries who share a
mission to end counterfeiting. Alibaba told WWD that the Alliance’s
membership has at least tripled in size since its founding in
2017.

Luxury goods holding group Richemont is the latest to join the
team. The Swiss company joins a diverse group of brands with a shared
mission, including New Balance, General Motors and McDonald’s.
Richemont plans to share technology and expertise to aid in the
efforts of the AACA.

“The protection of intellectual property rights requires all
stakeholders to work closely together and share their expertise,”
Michael Yao, senior vice president and head of brand protection and
cooperation for Alibaba told WWD. “The AACA will continue its efforts
to establish industry best practices for IP protection by creating
effective collaboration among brands, platforms and law
enforcement.”

Counterfeiting is becoming an epidemic within the industry

While luxury brands often experience losses from knock-off
products, counterfeiting is becoming a major problem for brands across
the board. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized

earlier this year. for
2018 estimated that such scams caused 323 billion dollars in losses
for brands, with 30.3 billion dollars of that total representing
losses to luxury brands.

With these figures, luxury brands have a right to be cautious.
Chanel l of counterfeiting its handbags, even going as far as
to file a trademark complaint in the New York federal court last
month. The RealReal, which prides itself in using highly-trained
experts authenticating every secondhand item it sells, responded that
“Chanel’s lawsuit is nothing more than a thinly-veiled bullying effort
to stop consumers from reselling their authentic used goods. The
RealReal stands behind its authenticity guarantee and will continue to
provide a safe and reliable platform for consumers to resell luxury
items.”