In the months since Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba began trading shares in its Cayman Islands-based holding corporation on the New York Stock Exchange, entities ranging from the Chinese government to the owner of Gucci have accused the company of knowingly profiting from counterfeit branded goods. Alibaba has promised to improve its capacity to ferret out fakes, and now says that it will take down some brands’ items more quickly.

The company’s Taobao marketplace is comparable to eBay: any Chinese resident can sign up and start selling. If the thing they want to sell is, say, fake Gucci purses, it’s not up to Alibaba to authenticate those purses. A representative of Gucci or another anti-counterfeiting vigilante would have to flag the listing, and it would take five to seven business days for the listing to be taken down.

The company’s new program expedites takedown notices from companies that usually correctly flag counterfeit items. It’s still not instantaneous: a listing comes down in one to three business days.

Alibaba Revamps Fake-Goods Procedures [Wall Street Journal]

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