PT TokopediaPT Buka Mitra Indonesia (Bukalapak), and PT Shopee International Indonesia is listed on the 2021 Notorious Markets List or a list of companies monitored by the US government for allegedly selling counterfeit or pirated goods.
“The global trade in counterfeit and pirated goods is undermining U.S. innovation, creativity, and harming American workers,” said U.S. Commerce Department Representative Katherine Tai in a release Thursday.
In the document, it is explained that Tokopedia is a third-party vendor platform that sells various goods, such as clothing, books, to electronics.
“Many rights owners report high prices and volumes of counterfeit clothing, counterfeit cosmetics and accessories, pirated textbooks, and other pirated English material on this platform,” the Notorious Markets List 2021 was quoted as saying.
A similar explanation was also written for Bukalapak. “The rights holders also note that those caught selling counterfeit goods on Bukalapak are allowed to use multiple accounts or re-register a new account to continue selling their counterfeit goods,” he explained.
Shopee was also reported by the rights holders as a result of the notification and removal procedures of Shopee being burdensome, decentralized, ineffective, and slow.
“Shopee’s procedures for vetting sellers reportedly did not drive sellers of counterfeit goods off the platform or prevent repeat offenders from re-registering,” the document reads.
Furthermore, the rights holder emphasized that Shopee did not create an environment where sellers were prevented from offering counterfeit goods because the sanctions they imposed were inadequate.
In response to this, Tokopedia’s External Communications Senior Lead Ekhel Chandra Wijaya stated that his party would take firm action against all forms of abuse of the Tokopedia platform and or violations of applicable laws in Indonesia.
He said that Tokopedia has a policy on what products can be traded in the rules for using the platform. Meanwhile, rights owners can report violations to the link https://www.tokopedia.com/intellectual-property-protection.
“Although Tokopedia is UGC, where every seller can upload products independently, we continue to take cooperative actions to keep activities on the Tokopedia platform in accordance with applicable laws,” he explained.
Meanwhile, AVP of Marketplace Quality for Bukalapak, Baskara Aditama, stated that his party always prohibits the sale of counterfeit goods and will impose sanctions for those who violate the rules.
He said users, rights and brand owners can also submit requests for blocking goods that violate the provisions of goods sold on Bukalapak.
“Bukalapak is committed to protecting Intellectual Property Rights and prohibiting the sale of counterfeit and pirated goods on our platform. All violations of Bukalapak’s Rules of Use will be subject to sanctions,” he said in a written release.
Shopee Indonesia also said that it strictly prohibits the sale of pirated goods on their platform, as well as implementing various policies and procedures aimed at identifying and preventing infringement of intellectual property rights.
“Shopee is firmly committed to protecting intellectual property rights and fighting piracy. We strictly prohibit the sale of pirated goods on our platform,” said a Shopee Spokesperson in a written statement.
(tdh / nva)
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