A TRADEMARK spat between Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and rival JD.com flared into public view after JD.com published an Alibaba letter urging publishers to be careful about advertising in promotions for China’s annual “Singles’ Day” spree, the world’s largest online shopping day.

    In the letter, dated Oct. 16 and published Thursday on a JD.com social media account, Alibaba’s Tmall.com marketplace warned Chinese publishers against running ads with the “Double Eleven” motif that are not official Alibaba promotions. The slogan has become a well known reference to Nov. 11, when Singles’ Day takes place each year, encouraging unattached consumers to buy goods as gifts for themselves.

    Tmall said in the letter that “Double Eleven” is a registered trademark. In 2013, Alibaba registered at least six trademarks associated with “Double Eleven” with the State Administration of Industry and Commerce.

    The letter highlights fierce competition among e-commerce firms in China over their marketing efforts around Nov. 11, a day that has proved an online shopping bonanza. Total sales processed on Singles’ Day last year approached US$8 billion.

    In the letter, which was published on a JD.com Weibo account, Tmall also condemned some of Alibaba’s e-commerce rivals, without identifying names, and said media outlets would be liable for breach of trademark if they published any ads that infringed on Alibaba’s rights.

    “We express our extreme indignation and condemn some e-commerce companies for their demeaning activities,” Alibaba’s Tmall said in the letter, without disclosing specific examples of activities to which it objected. Tmall said publishers would bear joint liability for any breach of China’s advertising law.

    JD.com said that Alibaba’s warning was counter to “the open spirit of the Internet and the principles of fair competition” and said the move would limit consumer choice and damage consumer interests. (SD-Agencies)