​China's SAIC to crackdown on online counterfeit trading

Chinese regulator the State of Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC) has launched a campaign dubbed Red Shield Net Sword aimed to crackdown on the trading of counterfeit goods online.

The campaign, expected to run from July to November, according to the Wall Street Journal, is expected to focus on the responsibility platform operators have on supervising fake goods do not get sold on their platforms. Additionally, SAIC reportedly will be asking local departments to strengthen their supervision of trading platforms.

"Strictly implement the legal responsibility that platform operators must bear," said SAIC in a notice on their website, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The campaign is part of an overall effort across the country to crackdown on counterfeit goods.

China's largest e-commerce retailer Alibaba Group reported at the end of last year that it cleared up to 90 million goods that may have breached intellectual property rights on its e-commerce sites, Tabao and Tmall. It said it had adopted an "internet-based" big data pattern to deal with fake goods on its platform. The system is supposedly able to identify and track fake products, conduct complex algorithms, and spur the linkages between consumers, copyright owners, and the government departments.

The retailer also signed a memorandum of understanding with Microsoft to strengthen anti-counterfeit measures on the two sites on its two e-commerce sites, such as by removing product lists suspected of offering counterfeit or unlicensed Microsoft products.

But Alibaba is not alone. Amazon and Dangdang were found to have carried fake Estee Lauder cosmetic products.