Asia IP

Large e-commerce company Alibaba Group recently signed a Memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Korea Intellectual Property Protection Association in Hangzhou to resolve issues regarding the distribution of counterfeit goods on the internet.

The MOU includes agreements on a professional partnership to protect IP, establish cooperative measures for promoting IP protection, and plan joint IP protection campaigns, according to the Korean Intellectual Property Office, of which the association is a subsidiary public agency. 

The association is a subsidiary public agency of the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO).

The cooperative measures for promoting IP protection specifically task the association — on behalf of Korean companies in general — with imparting to Alibaba critical intelligence on IP rights infringements so that it can more readily address the issue of illegal goods trafficking, said in a statement by KIPO.

“KIPO will strive to provide policy support in these matters,” said director-general Kwon Oh-jong of KIPO’s IP Protection and International Cooperation Bureau. “Signing this MOU was the first step in building an IPR protection system to benefit Korean companies doing e-commerce in foreign markets.”

The business of Alibaba Group includes a business-to-business online portal alibaba.com, one of the most popular online customer-to-customer platform Taobao, online payment escrow service Alipay.