In a stunning development Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, canceled his appearance at today’s IACC conference. What the aftermath of this remains to be seen. However, it’s an embarrassment for the trade group which lost its keynote speaker and a setback in its working with Alibaba to implement a more comprehensive counterfeiting agenda. According to the IACC website, Michael Evans, President of Alibaba, will be the keynote speaker.
Alibaba has been mentioned many times by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) in its annual Out of Cycle Review of Notorious Markets. See Page 7 of the USTR’s “2015 Out of Cycle Review of Notorious Markets,” which provides a good history of Alibaba’s piracy and also it’s efforts to remedy the problem.
Available at: https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/USTR-2015-Out-of-Cycle-Review-Notorious-Markets-Final.pdf]