The suit was filed in the US federal court of Manhattan, chinatopix.com reports. Gucci and the other luxury brand companies are asking for the payment of damages and an injunction on the alleged trademark and anti-racketeering laws violation. Alibaba has responded to the alleged lawsuit through its spokesperson Bob Christie who said that Alibaba has continued to help the luxury brand companies in the protection of their intellectual property.
The Chinese company believes that the lawsuit does not have any basis and will fight the suit. This is the second time in less than a year that a suit against Alibaba has been filed by French luxury brand companies. The first suit was filed in July 2014 but was withdrawn as the Kering companies and Alibaba tried to work it out. The present suit against Alibaba specifically stated that it allegedly granted counterfeiters access to vital services such as marketplace advertising, and said that most of the alleged counterfeit products were sold to buyers living in the US.
The suit claims that counterfeiters were allegedly selling a Gucci bag for only USD 2 to USD 5 wherein, according to the complainants, an original Gucci bag sells for USD 795 retail. The suit also contends that even when Alibaba was informed that one of its users were selling counterfeit goods, it did nothing to stop it. The suit is asking the federal court to compel Alibaba to stop offering its services to alleged counterfeiters and to pay damages that could possibly include a fine of USD 2 for every counterfeit item.
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