Chinese authorities’ investigations into the platform’s warehouses, equivalent to 20 football stadiums, were conducted after 16 brands sued Pandabuy for intellectual property violations.
Chinese authorities, together with British police, seized millions of counterfeit products in the various warehouses of Pandabuy, an online commerce platform located in China. The storage spaces investigated are equivalent to 20 football stadiums, authorities say.
The operations took place at the beginning of the month, when Chinese authorities raided several warehouses and the company’s headquarters in Hangzhou, China, after 16 brands have sued Pandabuy for copyright infringement. More than 30 people were detained and the main type of product seized was sports shoes.
“After six months of diligent work, we discovered that Pandabuy’s illegal activities spanned 5 cities in China, involving 2,200 workers and a total of 100,000 square meters of storage space – the equivalent of 20 football stadiums,” he stated. a Chinese company cited by The Guardian. Pandabuy is an online commerce platform based in China. The company acts as an intermediary between sellers and consumers – as does, for example, AliExpress -, without having its own products. In recent months, Pandabuy has become a viral platform on TikTok and other social networks, due to its cheap products and their similarity to branded items.
The Chinese company continues to operate, albeit on a limited basis. In a response to The Guardian, a platform representative admitted that Pandabuy has been facing “legal problems in your services” and that he was cooperating with the authorities. “At the same time, our team and authorities have taken all necessary steps to ensure that our consumers’ data and rights are protected,” she concluded.
The investigation, according to the World Trademark Review, began in November 2023 and its main agents were the Chinese authorities, the British police and several intellectual property protection agencies. The involvement of the UK authorities is justified due to the overlap of this action with Operation Ashiko, which focuses on crimes of intellectual property infringement and the sale of counterfeit goods. “This is the first time that a collaboration between companies, authorities, law firms and service providers has resulted in action on this scale against a commercial counterfeiter,” Detective Andrew Masterson told World Trademark Review, as quoted by The Guardian.
Tags: Chinese platform Pandabuy caught millions counterfeit products Companies
