ECommerce Platforms and Brands Launch Southeast Asia’s First ECommerce Anti-Counterfeiting Consortium

At the annual Intellectual Property (IP) Week in Singapore, Lazada Group Chief Risk Officer and Lazada Malaysia Chief Executive Officer Alan Chan shared how companies could protect their intellectual property rights (IPR) in the technology and digital space and leverage that IP to accelerate their growth. Chan also shared Lazada’s approach to protecting the IP of brands on its platform through merchant education, robust internal policies and capabilities, and innovative technologies. Organized by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, the annual event was held on September 6 and 7 at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre and was attended by industry thought leaders, legal experts and innovative enterprises from across Southeast Asia.

In conjunction with IP Week, Lazada also led a consortium of online platforms and brand owners, including HP Inc. and BMW, to launch the Southeast Asia eCommerce Anti-Counterfeiting Working Group, also known as the SeCA Working Group. Coordinated by Singapore intellectual property law firm Robinson LLC, the consortium is the first in the region dedicated to eCommerce anti-counterfeiting and seeks to provide a platform to facilitate open and constructive dialogue and information exchange between IPR owners and eCommerce platforms.

Lazada said the idea for the consortium was conceived last year during discussions between eCommerce platforms and IPR owners, some of which are now members of the working group. It also unveiled plans to provide an online directory to house the protection policies, programs, tools and resources to support IPR owners. The online directory will also serve as an accessible online repository to educate the public on IPR protection matters, such as best practices pertaining to platform terms of services, IPR infringement reporting and removal mechanisms, and IP-related awareness building.

 “We are pleased to coordinate and partner with leading eCommerce platform Lazada and other partners to launch the SeCA Working Group and introduce the group’s first project: the secagroup.org online directory. As eCommerce continues to be a key growth driver of the digital economy, businesses will need to pay more attention to IPR protection and counterfeit trade issues,” said Cyril Chua, founder and managing partner of Robinson LLC.

“At Lazada, we are committed to maintaining high standards of IPR protection on our platform so as to foster a trusted and safe eCommerce environment. We are proud to be a founding participant of the SeCA Working Group and look forward to playing an active role in driving progress as well as development in IPR protection standards and industry-wide awareness,” Chan said. “Together, we can build a sustainable and fair eCommerce ecosystem for all participants across Southeast Asia.”