|
 In the letter, dated Oct. 16 and published on Thursday on a JD
social media account, Alibaba's Tmall.com marketplace warned Chinese
publishers against running ads with the "Double Eleven" motif that
are not official Alibaba promotions. The slogan has become a well
known reference to Nov. 11, when Singles' Day takes place each year,
encouraging unattached consumers to buy goods as gifts for
themselves.
Tmall said in the letter that "Double Eleven" is a registered
trademark. According to research by Reuters, in 2013, Alibaba
registered at least six trademarks associated with "Double Eleven"
with the State Administration of Industry and Commerce.
The letter highlights fierce competition among e-commerce firms in
China over their marketing efforts around Nov. 11, a day that has
proved an online shopping bonanza. Total sales processed on Singles'
Day last year approached $8 billion.
In the letter, which was published on a JD Weibo account, Tmall also
condemned some of Alibaba's e-commerce rivals, without identifying
names, and said media outlets would be liable for breach of
trademark if they published any ads that infringed on Alibaba's
rights.
"We express our extreme indignation and condemn some e-commerce
companies for their demeaning activities," Alibaba's Tmall said in
the letter, without disclosing specific examples of activities to
which it objected. Tmall said publishers would bear joint liability
for any breach of China's advertising law.
Officials at Alibaba and JD weren't immediately available for
comment on Thursday.
JD said on Weibo that Alibaba's warning was counter to "the open
spirit of the Internet and the principles of fair competition, and
said the move would limit consumer choice and damage consumer
interests.
[to top of second column] |
For its part, Alibaba's letter amounted to a muscular effort to
protect its lead on a hugely important day of sales.
Last year on Nov. 11, Alibaba's payment system alone processed $5.8
billion worth of transactions - more than the amount sold in the
United States on Black Monday and Cyber Friday - with almost a third
of China's population visiting Alibaba websites during the 24-hour
period last year.
JD, a distant second to Alibaba in Chinese e-commerce, posted sales
of $1.6 billion during its own Singles' Day promotion last year,
which extended over 12 days.
Other internet merchants, including Amazon.com Inc, have already
been rolling out promotions for the November shopping event. Amazon
China announced on Wednesday that the company will focus on
international brands during this year's Singles' Day event, allowing
local customers to buy items and get direct shipments from the
firm's international websites.
(1 US dollar = 6.1139 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Gerry Shih, Matthew Miller and Shanghai and Beijing
Newsrooms; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
