The parent company of retailers Gucci, Yves Saint Laurant and Puma has partnered with Chinese ecommerce platform Alibaba to combat the sale of fake goods on the latter.
As part of the deal, luxury fashion house Kering will dismiss its lawsuit against Alibaba and affiliate Alipay, which was filed in the US district court in New York in 2015.
Instead, Kering and Alibaba will lead a joint taskforce stamping out online and offline counterfeiters.
“The new partnership represents a milestone in both parties‘ investment and efforts to protect brands‘ intellectual property rights,” the two retail giants said in a joint statement.
READ MORE: Alibaba declares war on counterfeiters
“The companies have established a joint task force with the purpose of collaborating fully, exchanging useful information, and working closely with law enforcement bodies to take appropriate action against infringers of Kering‘s brands identified with Alibaba‘s advanced technology capabilities.”
The news comes after Alibaba earlier this year officially declared war on counterfeiters, establishing an alliance with other retail brands such as Swarovski, Louis Vuitton and Samsung.
The aim was to pool resources and use big data to recognise fake goods sellers and then work with retailers to sue them, stamping out illegal goods and providing a deterrent.
At the time, Alibaba said its system had led to the removal of 380 million fake items.
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