Alibaba’s Tmall and Taobao accused of facilitating illegal sales of Mary Kay cosmetics
American company is suing online platforms and two other internet shops, but Alibaba says lawsuit has no merit
An international cosmetics company has filed a lawsuit in Hong Kong against Chinese e-shopping platforms Tmall and Taobao, as well as two online shops, over sales of unauthorised versions of its products, according to court documents.
In a High Court writ filed on Wednesday, Mary Kay Inc said the two shops, Qingfeng Tmall Shop and Tmall Supermarket, had infringed its trademarks. It accused Tmall and Taobao of not conducting proper checks, as the shops had sold the products on their websites.
“Consumers are likely to be misled by Tmall’s Consumer Protection Policy to believe that the Qingfeng Tmall Shop … and Tmall Supermarket are endorsed, licensed or somehow authorised by [Mary Kay] to sell authentic Mary Kay products on Tmall platforms,” the US-based firm claimed in the writ.
Alibaba’s Tmall expands in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia to non-Chinese speaking consumers
It is suing the platform owners, Zhejiang Tmall Network, Zhejiang Tmall Technology and Taobao China Holding, all of which are part of the Alibaba Group, which owns the South China Morning Post.
The remaining defendants are Meng Cheng County Qingfeng Agriculture Resources and Shanghai Tianyi Electronic Commerce, which run Qingfeng Tmall Shop and Tmall Supermarket respectively. They are unrelated to Alibaba.
A spokesman for the Alibaba Group said it believed the lawsuit had no merit. “We will present the facts, which will show why this is the case, and vigorously defend against the claims,” he said.
The other defendants in the case could not be reached for comment.
Mary Kay is seeking a court order to stop both the shops and platforms from any attempts to associate themselves with its brand. It asked the court to look into the damage it had suffered and order compensation.