Jingdong confirms legal sources of its luxury goods

(Ecns.cn)--The authenticity of most luxury goods sold by the Chinese online business-to-consumer retailer Jingdong Mall, or 360buy.com, have been validated by the luxury brands' authorized agents, said the online retailer Sunday when responding to reports that it lacks the official stamp to sell goods such as Gucci, Hermes and Prada.

The retailer admitted that it was not authorized to sell the luxury brands directly on its website, but confirmed the products are procured through legal channels accompanied by regular commercial invoices from the brands' agents.

Earlier this month, Swarovski Trading (Shanghai) Co announced it intended to take legal action against Jingdong for selling its luxury crystal brand in China without authorization.

The lower online prices of Swarovski's products offered by the B2C retailer may have had some negative impact on the crystal maker's official prices, and Jingdong is "still negotiating with Swarovski" on that matter, the company informed the Global Times.

Generally speaking, if the products sold on an e-commerce platform are genuine, brand owners cannot cry trademark infringement even if the website lacks the brand's authorization, said Liu Jiahui, a lawyer with Beijing-based Derun Law Firm quoted in the Global Times.

Last year, 360buy started to sell luxury brand cosmetics, handbags, and clothing for both men and women, and the fast development of this sector left it "trying to cooperate with the luxury brand companies instead of their agents," said the retailer.