Alibaba plays trademark card to protect lead as China’s $8 billion e-commerce spree nears
A trademark spat between Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and rival JD.com flared into public view after JD published an Alibaba letter urging publishers to be careful about advertising in promotions for China’s annual “Singles’ Day” spree, the world’s largest online shopping day.
In the letter, dated Oct. 16 and published on Thursday on a JD social media account, Alibaba’s Tmall.com marketplace warned Chinese publishers against running ads with the “Double Eleven” motif that are not official Alibaba promotions. The slogan has become a well known reference to Nov. 11, when Singles’ Day takes place each year, encouraging unattached consumers to buy goods as gifts for themselves.
Tmall said in the letter that “Double Eleven” is a registered trademark. According to research by Reuters, in 2013, Alibaba registered at least six trademarks associated with “Double Eleven” with the State Administration of Industry and Commerce.
“We express our extreme indignation and condemn some e-commerce companies for their demeaning activities,” Alibaba’s Tmall said in the letter, without disclosing specific examples of activities to which it objected. Tmall said publishers would bear joint liability for any breach of China’s advertising law.
Source: Reuters-Alibaba plays trademark card to protect lead as China’s $8 billion e-commerce spree nears
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