U.S. ADDS WECHAT, ALIEXPRESS TO NOTORIOUS PIRACY MARKETS LIST

The U.S. added Chinese messaging platform Wechat and online marketplace Aliexpress to its list of notorious markets for counterfeiting and piracy, an annual compilation of the worst intellectual-property abusers and counterfeiters.

Alibaba Group Holding-owned Aliexpress and Tencent Holdings’ Wechat are “two significant Chinabased online markets that reportedly facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting,” the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement accompanying the release of the 2021 review last week.

The USTR first started publishing the annual standalone list in 2011 to increase public awareness and help market operators and governments prioritize intellectual-property enforcement efforts. The 2021 review identifies 42 online and 35 physical markets that are reported to engage in or facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy.

Pinduoduo, one of the largest online retailers in China, continues to be listed after first being included in 2019. Alibaba’s Taobao, together with Baidu cloudstorage service Baidu Wangpan and e-commerce service provider Dhgate.com are also still on the list. Nine physical markets located within China that are known for the manufacture, distribution and sale of counterfeit goods are included.

The world’s two largest economies share the biggest bilateral trade relationship, but it has been fractious since 2018, with the Trump administration imposing tariffs on more than $300 billion in imports from China, ranging from footwear and clothing to electronics and bicycles and even pet food under section 301 of the Trade Act.

The report listed China as the top country of origin for counterfeit goods seized by U.S. Customs and Border protection as well as the country with the greatest number of products made with forced labor, including state-sponsored forced labor.

The Biden administration has contemplated a fresh section 301 investigation to counter China’s industrial subsidies. Congress has also considered establishing a review process to limit outbound investment, and the Commerce Department is weighing potential curbs to apps such as Tiktok and Wechat that U.S. officials say pose a risk to Americans’ data security.

Commerce also has added more Chinese companies to its so-called Entity List, which prohibits American firms from doing business with them without first obtaining a U.S. government license.

Wechat and Weixin, its China-facing version, are viewed to be among the largest platforms for counterfeit goods in China, with more than 1.2 billion active users around the world in 2021, USTR said. The e-commerce system that works within Wechat is of particular concern, with rights holders identifying weakness in Wechat’s seller vetting as a significant problem, the agency said.

The USTR’S notorious markets list is a spinoff from its so-called Special 301 report, an annual review of the global state of intellectual property-rights protection and enforcement.

USTR highlights the markets because they exemplify global counterfeiting and piracy concerns and because the scale of the violations in those markets can cause significant harm to U.S. intellectual property owners, workers, consumers and the economy.