HCMC – Ecommerce platform operator Lazada responded to an allegation that it abetted the sale of fake books on its platform stating that it is willing to cooperate with intellectual property units but HCMC-based publisher First News, which had sued Lazada over the issue, rejected its argument.
On September 9, the Vietnamese publishing house announced that it had filed a copyright lawsuit in the District 1 People’s Court in HCMC against Recess Co., Ltd., the owner of ecommerce platform Lazada, on September 4 for repeatedly allowing vendors to sell fake copies of First News’ books on the Lazada platform.
After First News announced the lawsuit, Lazada responded via media channels on September 9 stating, “As an ecommerce platform, Lazada is willing to cooperate with intellectual property units and will continue to take measures to protect intellectual property rights on its platform.”
Lazada has an adequate system to monitor operations on its platform. It will promptly review and remove products showing signs of violations from the platform. All complaints related to counterfeit products on the platform will be handled in line with prevailing regulations, said a Lazada representative.
Besides this, Lazada contacted First News, asking why the publisher did not send a warning letter to Lazada instead of issuing certified written minutes and why it did not give Lazada a chance to correct the issue or arrange an appointment to settle the issue, the representative added.
Nguyen Van Phuoc, founder and CEO of First News, said, “We affirm that we will only meet the head of Lazada Vietnam when the court handles the case.”
Over the past two years, First News and numerous media outlets have accused Lazada of repeatedly allowing vendors to sell fake versions of First News books on a wide scale on Lazada but the Lazada side had not responded. This proves that Lazada has no respect for the law, the readers, consumers and publishing firms in Vietnam, Phuoc added.
On August 19 last year, First News sent a warning letter to Zhang Yixing, general director of Lazada Vietnam, but received no response.
According to Phuoc, Lazada did not publish a list of stores on the platform that are violating laws and the ecommerce firm collects partial profits from the sale of fake books. Moreover, Lazada did not make any “move” as stated by it in the media, Phuoc said.
