Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has filed a lawsuit against two vendors for allegedly selling counterfeit goods, it said, weeks after the US put its main platform on its "notorious markets" blacklist. Late last month the office of the US Trade Representative put Alibaba's massive online sales portal Taobao on its annual blacklist, saying it was not doing enough to curb sales of fake and pirated goods.

Although inclusion on the blacklist carries no penalties, it dealt a blow to Alibaba's reputation after the company has struggled to improve its image and boost international sales. The company, which has made founder Jack Ma China's richest man, said Wednesday it had sued two Taobao venders for 1.4 million yuan ($200,000), accusing them of selling fake Swarovski watches on their portal in violation of the company's services agreement. "Selling counterfeits not only violates our service agreement, it also infringes on the intellectual property rights of the brand owner, puts inferior products in the hands of consumers and ruins the hard-earned trust and reputation Alibaba has with our customers," said Jessie Zheng, Alibaba Group's chief platform governance officer.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017