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Hollywood casts China's Taobao in antipiracy effort

The Chinese e-commerce giant has joined forces with the Motion Picture Association to curb the sale of counterfeit products.

Charlie Osborne Contributing Writer
Charlie Osborne is a cybersecurity journalist and photographer who writes for ZDNet and CNET from London. PGP Key: AF40821B.
Charlie Osborne

An affiliate of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Motion Picture Association (MPA), has signed a pact with Chinese's largest e-commerce company Taobao to cut the sale of counterfeit items on its site.

MPA

Under the new agreement, the Chinese company and the MPA will work together to identify and take down listings on Taobao Marketplace that are believed to be counterfeit goods or that "infringe the copyrights of MPA member companies," Reuters reports. Members of the MPA include Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros. Entertainment and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

The Taobao Marketplace is China's largest consumer-focused e-commerce platform and holds at least 70 percent market share, according to Reuters.

The e-commerce market is booming in China -- as is the market for fake goods. As CNET's Don Reisinger reported in July, Taobao made the headlines after opportunistic vendors began accepting "iPhone 5 preorders" for a $160 deposit or a full $1,100 payment.

Taobao is owned by China's Alibaba Group, and the deal has been reached just before Alibaba's annual conference this weekend where the Asia president of the MPAA, Michael Ellis, is due to speak.