MEMA mounts push against counterfeit parts

The Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA) has endorsed a letter to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in an effort to stem the tide of counterfeit motor vehicle parts flooding the Internet. The organization is asking the agency to list sites known to traffic in counterfeit goods on its annual Notorious Market Report.

“Historically, online sales have not been a significant means of counterfeit parts entering the domestic or global marketplace. This is changing as China and other countries experience a phenomenal growth in e-commerce, resulting in an increase in counterfeit parts in the international online environment,” says Steve Handschuh, MEMA president and chief executive officer in the USTR letter. “Today, counterfeit goods, offered as genuine brands, are more readily available online in the local market and globally because of the nature of the Internet.”

Bill Long, Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association president and chief operating officer, says counterfeit parts not only harm suppliers and rob them of IP rights, they can pose a safety threat to motorists and repair technicians who unknowingly may install inferior parts.

In the letter, MEMA specifically cited Alibaba.com and its family of websites including TaoBao.com and AliExpress.com as sites most commonly named by MEMA members as selling counterfeit parts. While these online sites have been listed in the Notorious Market Report in the past, the USTR removed TaoBao.com from the list in 2012 with the stipulation that it “decrease the time required for taking down listings of counterfeit and pirated goods and to . . . achieve a satisfactory outcome with U.S. rights holders and industry associations.”

Handschuh says these urgings by USTR have not been met and, “MEMA member companies have experienced a history of misrepresentation by Alibaba and its platform websites in dealing with suspected counterfeit products,” he adds. “Additionally, MEMA member companies have attempted to engage and build relationships with Alibaba in order to address counterfeit motor vehicle parts bearing unauthorized trademarks. These attempts have not been productive and the counterfeiting continues.”

Handschuh also noted that regular viewing of products available on the Alibaba family of websites include brand name products that are not manufactured in China by the IPR owner.

“The price, volume of product and lack of manufacturing in China by the brand owner are all strong indications of counterfeit merchandise,” he wrote. “A top motor vehicle manufacturer has estimated that at least 95 percent of the merchandise bearing its company’s brand names and trademarks found on Alibaba.com and its family of platforms are suspected to be counterfeit.”