Chinese firm settles fake-goods lawsuit

SHANGHAI — Alibaba has been battling the perception that it is a marketplace for fakes for years. Late last week, it made some headway, resolving a dispute with the luxury goods giant Kering.

The companies said they had resolved their differences, and Kering, which owns brands including Gucci and Saint Laurent, said it would withdraw a 2015 lawsuit that complained that counterfeit goods had been sold from the Chinese e-commerce giant’s website.

They said in a statement that they would establish a joint task force to share information and work with law enforcement to protect Kering’s brands. The companies will also make use of Alibaba’s technology to seek out fakes.

The resolution is a win for Alibaba, which has been on a charm offensive outside China. The company’s founder, Jack Ma, hosted a conference in Detroit this year as part of efforts to enlist more American vendors for its platform. Ma has also met with President Donald Trump.

Alibaba has long faced accusations that its sales platforms harbor vendors selling fakes, and it has worked hard to push back against that image. The resolution of the suit with Kering is likely to be one part of a broader push for the company to get itself off a list of “notorious markets” for counterfeit goods compiled by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Unlike Amazon, much of Alibaba’s e-commerce site is dominated by marketplaces run by third-party vendors. The company has argued that it can be tricky to perfectly police such a bewildering number of small online shops, selling all manner of goods. Its situation is also made difficult by the widespread prevalence of fake goods in China more generally.