Few e-commerce platforms in Asia are transparent about their anti-counterfeiting efforts.
Lazada, however, has worked tirelessly to share information and best practices with brand owners and continuously refine its intellectual property policies under Joyce Ang’s leadership.
The senior vice president of IP protection at Lazada was the driving force behind the launch of Southeast Asia’s first e-commerce anti-counterfeiting consortium this year.
Lazada submitted a proposal at an industry fireside chat group in May 2021 to facilitate open and constructive dialogue and information exchange between IP owners and e-commerce platforms.
In September, several other industry members, including Tencent, HP, and P&G, joined hands with Lazada to launch the consortium.
The group plans to address rapidly evolving issues in online retail and to support participating platforms and brand owners in their IP rights and consumer protection efforts.
But launching the anti-counterfeiting consortium wasn’t Ang’s only achievement this year.
She oversaw many other crucial enforcement initiatives, including Lazada’s participation in Interpol’s Operation Pangea XV, which targeted illicit drugs.
Lazada was the only e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia that participated in the operation, in which illicit medicines worth $11 million were seized globally.
Lazada also collaborated with the Korea Intellectual Property Protection Agency and the Japanese External Trade Organization this year to raise awareness on tackling online counterfeits in Southeast Asia.
