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Online sale of fake goods 'running wild'

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Alibaba.com the parent company of Taobao.com, is a specialised platform of e-business in China. [CFP]

National values

Like Taobao, e-commerce giant eBay also faces infringement claims.

A French court ordered eBay to pay damages to luxury goods manufacturer LVMH for doing "too little to stop the sale of counterfeit goods over the Internet", according to the New York Times.

Yet the US-based Internet giant claimed victory in a legal battle with jewelry maker Tiffany Co on its home turf, the Business Week reports.

"The difference in rulings in France and the United States seem to reflect different legal philosophies in the two countries," Huang Yong, law professor with the University of International Business and Economics, told China Daily.

US courts focus more on contract and market freedom while the French judicial system appears to emphasize more social responsibilities, Huang said.

"The United States prevails in the Internet industry and related technologies globally partly due to the nation's tolerance and encouragement of innovative industry."

"In contrast to developed countries, our e-commerce still has enormous potential to tap," he said.

Yet the current Chinese legal system lacks specific regulations on the obligations of e-commerce portals in transactions of faked goods, Huang said.

He noted that satisfying consumers is itself a market mechanism that encourages quality, while overregulation could bring undesirable results. "It involves multiple interests balanced over a broad range including development of the Internet, management and promotion of new commercial models, competition and employment. It will be determined by our final values on these factors."

"But no website should serve as a platform for selling faked goods," the professor said.

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