Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba says it will partner with the Chinese government to fight against counterfeit goods on its websites.
Although Alibaba has worked with local and provincial officials before, it says this is the first time the company has cooperated comprehensively with the government at the national level.
Specifically, Alibaba will work with five agencies: Ministry of Public Security, State Administration for Industry & Commerce, General Administration of Quality Supervision, State Intellectual Property Office, and General Administration of Press and Publication. The company said it will give these agencies greater access to Alibaba's Taobao Marketplace and Alipay data.
Alibaba says it aims to create "synergistic online and offline mechanisms" to identify and shut down factories and other sources of counterfeit goods partly by pairing information on the transactions on its websites with offline documents.
In addition, the company announced this week that it has established an anti-piracy task force to ensure the company remains focused on the problem.
Alibaba has had problems in the past. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) previously named its Taobao Marketplace as one of the world's "notorious markets" for counterfeits. However, as Alibaba stepped up its efforts to fight fakes, the company was removed from the list.
"We will not have any cap on our resources," CEO Jack Ma said in the company's blog. "This is a long-term effort."
