Greenhills Shopping Center and Shopee were listed as physical and online counterfeit and pirated markets, respectively, in the latest US Trade Representative (USTR ) 2022 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy.
The USTR report published on Tuesday, Jan. 31, identified 39 online markets and 33 physical markets that are reported to engage in or facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy. These include WeChat e-commerce ecosystem as one of the largest platforms for counterfeit goods in China. Other listed markets in China include online markets Aliexpress, Baidu Wangpan, DHGate, Pinduoduo, and Taobao, as well as seven physical markets located within China that increasingly use brick-and-mortar storefronts to support online sales of counterfeits.
On Greenhills, the USTR continued to tag the sprawling shopping complex in San Juan as notorious market for more than five years already or since 2018. The USTR noted that currently many of the storefronts in Greenhills Shopping Center sell counterfeit goods, including electronics, perfumes, watches, shoes, accessories, and fashion items.
Law enforcement authorities have taken action to seize counterfeit luxury goods, notably during a high-profile raid in April 2022., the report said.
Right holders also report enforcement activity in the form of warning letters and subsequent suspension of business, but the targets of enforcement often evade such efforts by moving the location of
With a new seven-story building scheduled to open in early 2023, USTR said the Greenhills Shopping Center has expressed willingness to cooperate with authorities and a belief that the opening of this building will provide leverage to transition sellers of counterfeit goods into “legitimate” sellers.
Meantime, shopee.com was also tagged as among notorious online markets. The online shopping platform, which is also available as a mobile app, is one of the popular online marketplaces in the Philippines.
Headquartered in Singapore, Shopee is an online and mobile e-commerce market based in Singapore with individual country-focused platforms primarily serving Southeast Asia, Europe, and Brazil.
According to the USTR, right holders report overall high volumes of counterfeits across some of Shopee’s platforms, with complaints about cumbersome and duplicative processes among the individual country-focused platforms, differing requirements for takedown requests, and slow response times.
Shopee’s Taiwan and Vietnam platforms appear to be positive examples of better engagement with right holders and improved anticounterfeiting efforts, but some right holders indicate counterfeits are also present on those country platforms, USTR said.
In 2022, Shopee launched a pilot program for its new brand protection portal and, with a newly hired global brand protection director, increased its engagement with right holders.
Right holders also urged Shopee to improve its procedures for vetting sellers, enhance deterrence against counterfeit goods through increased penalties, and cooperate with right holders in investigations of the supply chain for counterfeit goods purchased on the platform, the USTR said.
USTR first identified notorious markets in the Special 301 Report in 2006. Since February 2011, USTR has published annually the Notorious Markets List separately from the Special 301 Report, to increase public awareness and help market operators and governments prioritize intellectual property enforcement efforts that protect American businesses and their workers.