Louis Vuitton looking to close the case on counterfeits in China.

Alibaba Group, China’s massive e-commerce firm, has announced a partnership with French high fashion label Louis Vuitton that aims to stop the sale of counterfeit luxury goods in China. The Alibaba-owned Taobao marketplace, China’s largest and most popular consumer-to-consumer online shopping outlet, is often flooded with knock-off designer goods in a country that has often been accused of largely turning a blind eye. Alibaba, as a whole, handles more web transactions annually than both Amazon and Ebay combined and it marks the first time that a brand under LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the Paris-based luxury goods conglomerate, has collaborated with a leading e-commerce platform in China to combat counterfeiting.

Louis Vuitton, owned by LVHM Moet Hennessy, is world-famous for its distinctive brown leather bags and wallets. Other brands owned by LVMH included Marc Jacobs, Christian Dior, Loro Piana, EDUN, Fendi and Donna Karen. According to a press release, the company and luxury brand Louis Vuitton will combine efforts on fighting fake goods and protecting intellectual property rights

“Under the agreement with Louis Vuitton, Taobao Marketplace will proactively take down product listings of suspected counterfeit goods and implement preventive measures to stop sellers from listing fake items,” said Alizila. “These measures strengthen the current system in place whereby brand owners notify Taobao of intellectual property rights-infringing items and then Taobao acts to remove them.”

“Such collaboration is invaluable to us, in order to prevent the manufacture, transport and sales of counterfeit goods, online as well as off-line,” said Valerie Sonnier, Louis Vuitton’s Global Intellectual Property Director.

But is it too soon for celebrations?

Opportunities for growth in China's e-commerce market seem to be tempered by the lingering problem of counterfeit items. For a country that has often been criticised for low levels of IP enforcement and IP protection that do not meet the international standards of other countries, Alibaba, has already begun to make steps to increase its efforts to combat online counterfeiting by also joining forces with the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition, the world's largest anti-counterfeiting group in August earlier this year. Alibaba Group Vice President Brian Li put forward, The Internet is not a place that generates [piracy] problems, but it’s a place that exposes [them].”

On the new collaboration an Alibaba spokeswoman said  "We look forward to joining efforts with more rights holders and brands from around the world to collaborate on anti-counterfeiting in the internet space," She pointed out that the Chinese company "already works with several hundred international and domestic Chinese rights-holders on intellectual property protection".