Notorious Markets Continue to Thrive Worldwide, USTR Says
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's 2020 Notorious Markets List focused heavily on websites and apps where you can download or stream pirated movies, shows, music and video games, but did continue to express concern about how easy it is to buy something online based on a picture of a legitimate product and then receive a counterfeit good. The agency said in press release that the report “includes for the first time a section addressing the role of Internet platforms in facilitating the importation of counterfeit and pirated goods.”
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USTR removed Amazon's Canada and India affiliates from the list this year, retained the British, German and French sites, and added Amazon's Italian and Spanish sites. “In some cases, online markets in the 2019 NML are not highlighted this year, but improvements are still needed, and the United States may continue to raise concerns related to these markets on a bilateral basis with the relevant countries,” the report said. “Some of these e-commerce platforms have invested significant time and resources to combat this problem and have developed innovative tools and processes along the way. Traders who traffic in counterfeit and pirated goods, on the other hand, have also evolved their tactics to evade and overwhelm the roadblocks placed in their way.”
The report praised Amazon for partnering with the federal government's National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center on a joint operation to prevent the import of counterfeit goods into the U.S. When Amazon was first identified as a notorious market, it said the listing was politically motivated.
The report said sellers are shifting to social media. “Right holders express concerns that many social media providers do not verify or vet the identity of advertisers and posters in a way that would promote offline enforcement and prevent repeat infringer accounts.”
The report described problems with online marketplaces in Indonesia, Singapore, China and South America, though it noted that the IP enforcement team at Mercado Libre, a leading e-commerce operator for sites in Latin America, was praised by stakeholders that also encouraged it to continue improving its enforcement and collaboration efforts.
The report noted various places where items are openly sold as knock-offs, as they generally are in outdoor markets. Regarding Bukalapak.com, in Indonesia, “[r]ight holders report that the majority of branded products on this platform are not genuine and that items are often openly labeled 'replicas' of branded products.”
Weidian.com, in China, has such prevalent counterfeiting that it's difficult to find genuine products for sale, USTR said. “Product listings are allowed to use words such as 'yuandan,' a Chinese term indicating that the product is made using the same materials and manufactured at the same facilities as genuine branded items, but without authorization from the brand owner.”
The American Apparel and Footwear Association thanked USTR for the effort in researching and writing the report, and for including its perspectives in it. “The annual review of Notorious Markets by the Office of the United States Trade Representative is a critical and effective tool in the U.S. government's toolkit to address the sale of counterfeits,” it said in a statement. “Identifying and publicly flagging the online platforms and the physical locations that counterfeit products are allowed to flourish is vital to our ongoing efforts to defend American intellectual property, American jobs, and American consumers.”