E-commerce platforms are a high-incidence venue for trademark infringement and the fastest channel for enforcement response. Based on the common rules of mainstream platforms such as the Alibaba IP Protection Platform (IPP), Pinduoduo, JD.com, and Douyin E-commerce, this guide sets out the complete workflow from account preparation through complaint follow-up and escalation after rejection.
1. Account Registration and Ownership Recordal
Before complaining you must first become a qualified complainant on the platform:
- Register a complainant account: companies upload their business license and individuals their ID, completing real-name verification;
- Record trademark ownership: submit the trademark registration certificate, supplemented by transfer, renewal, or change certificates as applicable, ensuring the recorded information matches the complaining entity; where it does not match (e.g., complaints by another group company or a licensee), submit authorization documents or the license contract;
- Record all marks in all classes: core trademarks, defensive trademarks, and separate records for Chinese, English, and device marks, to avoid discovering a missing record only when complaining;
- Recordal remains valid long-term, but update it promptly after renewal or assignment, or complaints will be rejected.
2. Choosing the Right Ground
Mismatched grounds are the number one cause of rejection. Common complaint types and their scenarios:
- Trademark infringement—counterfeit goods (goods bearing counterfeit registered trademarks): the goods themselves are fake. Requires a genuine-versus-fake comparison statement or purchase authentication; highest pass rate and heaviest disposition;
- Trademark infringement—trademark keyword abuse: genuine or unrelated goods free-ride on another's trademark in titles or attributes to divert traffic;
- Trademark infringement—store name / domain infringement: store names or member names using another's registered trademark;
- Other types such as copyright, patent, and portrait rights: do not mix types—trademark issues should not go through the copyright channel and vice versa.
3. Filing the Complaint and Organizing Evidence
Submit link by link; each complaint contains:
- The infringing link with platform and store information;
- The selected ground;
- Infringement statement: one paragraph stating who, where, and how your trademark is used and why it constitutes infringement—avoid empty phrases like 'infringes our trademark';
- Comparison materials: images comparing the registered trademark with the infringing sign, with identical and similar points marked;
- Strongly recommended for counterfeit complaints: after a notarized or anonymous purchase, produce a genuine-versus-fake comparison report (itemizing differences in packaging, anti-counterfeit features, workmanship, and price)—this is the watershed for counterfeit complaints.
4. Seller Appeals and Follow-Up
- After the platform approves and removes a link, the seller may usually appeal within a time limit;
- Common appeal grounds: having authorization (ask the platform to verify the authorization's authenticity and scope), prior use, descriptive use, resale of genuine goods;
- The complainant must respond within the time limit: point out flaws in a fake authorization, or provide evidence of product differences against a genuine-goods defense; failure to respond may lead to restoration of the link;
- Keep complaining against the same seller who repeatedly relists—accumulated violations can trigger traffic restrictions or removal; for batches of links, complain in waves to avoid alerting the seller to swap links all at once.
5. Handling Rejections and Escalation
- Read the rejection reason: fix defective ownership documents, supplement comparison and authentication where evidence is insufficient, or refile under the correct type where the ground was mismatched;
- Use the platform's review mechanism to supplement key evidence;
- Where the platform unjustifiably declines or obviously delays: complain to the market regulation authority at the seller's location, or send a lawyer's letter copying the platform, and where necessary assert in litigation that the platform failed to take necessary measures;
- Where the seller's real-name information is needed: apply for an investigation order in litigation or for the court to obtain it from the platform.
6. Batch Complaints and Routine Mechanisms
- Keep a ledger of infringing links: link, store, complaint date, result, and appeal status, for review and for quantifying infringement scale (useful for later damages claims);
- Connect with trademark monitoring: e-commerce patrols detect new links and complain immediately, forming a detect-and-dispose rhythm;
- Clean up intensively before major promotions: increase patrol frequency before 618 and Double 11 to compress the window in which counterfeits ride the traffic.
7. Platform Differences and Multi-Platform Coordination
Platform rules differ in detail—mind the differences in practice:
- Alibaba platforms (Taobao, Tmall, 1688): all go through the IPP platform, with finely divided complaint types; counterfeit complaints support subdivided grounds such as purchase authentication and 'never produced' (model never manufactured); short appeal windows and fast response;
- Pinduoduo: the IP protection platform runs independently, with equally strict evidence requirements for counterfeit complaints, and store penalties closely linked to fund restrictions;
- JD.com: separate channels for self-operated and third-party stores; infringement by self-operated goods can go through both the supplier complaint channel and platform customer service;
- Content commerce such as Douyin and Kuaishou: beyond product links, infringing use in short videos and livestream rooms is also complainable—remember to preserve livestream replay evidence.
The same infringing source often opens stores across platforms, so complaints should be filed simultaneously on multiple platforms to avoid whack-a-mole; keep the complaint ledger by platform, track pass rates, and adjust material templates accordingly.
8. Special Scenarios
- Seller produces an authorization in appeal: verify every link of the chain—whether the authorizer is the registrant, whether the scope covers the goods and channels, and whether it is within its term; report forged authorizations to the platform and use them as evidence of bad faith;
- Resale of genuine goods defense: exhaustion of trademark rights protects resale of genuine goods, but where the seller alters packaging, breaks bulk, passes off inferior goods, or promotes beyond a reasonable scope, infringement may still be found—focus on evidence that the goods' condition was changed;
- Cross-border purchases and grey-market goods: the characterization of parallel importation of genuine overseas goods is complex, and complaint pass rates are low—such cases are better evaluated individually and taken to litigation;
- Livestream clips and stolen images: a crossover of copyright and trademark—complain about sign use through the trademark channel and about stolen materials through the copyright channel, in parallel.
9. The Limits of Platform Complaints
Platform disposition only removes links and demerits stores—it cannot award damages or reach offline conduct. Position platform complaints as a takedown tool: while links are cleaned, escalate to administrative complaints or civil suits against sellers with large volumes and repeat infringement, and make criminal referrals with fixed evidence against clearly organized counterfeiting. Platform records (sales, reviews, appeal materials) should be notarized and fixed in parallel as ready-made evidence for later claims. Moreover, complaints are not a one-off: build a monthly review mechanism tracking complaint volume, pass rate, recurrence rate, and key store lists, continuously optimizing evidence templates and complaint strategy to keep the platform channel effective.
10. Service Entry
If you need these procedures handled for you, you may book the trademark monitoring service of a filed trademark agent on MyTMBee, with full assistance from material preparation through filing and follow-up.