MANILA -- E-commerce platform Shopee said on Monday that it "expressly prohibits the sale of infringing goods" after it was included in the Office of the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) list of notorious markets for counterfeiting and piracy for 2023.

The notorious markets list highlights online and physical marketplaces that reportedly engage in or facilitate trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy.

"Shopee is steadfastly committed to protecting intellectual property rights and combatting infringement and expressly prohibits the sale of infringing goods on our platform," the platform said in a statement sent to ABS-CBN News.

Despite the inclusion in the list, the USTR report had cited Shopee’s significant investment in its brand protection and anti-counterfeiting capacity over the past year, including the expansion of its one-stop brand intellectual property portal from an initial pilot to all right holders and a new brand protection partnership program to bolster proactive screening measures.

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But it noted that "despite positive progress in reporting procedures and takedown turn-around time, right holders noted that these improvements have not materialized consistently across all Shopee platforms."

It added that right holders continued to report high volumes of counterfeits across some of Shopee’s platforms, with complaints about persistent communication issues, slow response times, and weak enforcement against repeat infringers, particularly for Shopee Brazil and Shopee Indonesia.

Shopee said that it would continue to strengthen its anti-piracy measures.

“We are encouraged by the Office of the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) recognition of our efforts, and will continue to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of our brand protection initiatives to provide a safe and positive experience for our community of buyers and sellers,” it said.

The USTR report described Shopee as an online and mobile e-commerce market-based in Singapore with individual country-focused platforms serving Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam, as well as Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico.

The Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan City in Metro Manila was also included in the report, the only marketplace in the Philippines that made it to the notorious markets list.

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ABS-CBN News has reached out to the mall’s management for a statement but it has yet to issue an official response.

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