Alibaba names new head of anti-counterfeiting, IP unit

REUTERS - Alibaba Group Holding Ltd appointed Matthew Bassiur as head global intellectual property enforcement to oversee the company's anti-counterfeiting and intellectual property rights protection efforts.

The appointment comes days after the Chinese e-commerce giant avoided being named on a U.S. blacklist for sites hosting the sale of fake goods.

Alibaba's Taobao Marketplace and Alibaba.com were both previously on the piracy blacklist, which highlights markets linked to significant intellectual property infringement.

Alibaba.com was removed in 2011 and Taobao in 2012 after efforts to work with sellers of legitimate goods to clean up the sites.

Since then, the Chinese e-commerce giant has worked toward enforcing anti-counterfeit procedures, but the U.S. trade office said it was unclear what effect these measures have had.

Bassiur, whose appointment is effective January 2016, will report to Michael Evans, president of Alibaba.

Prior to joining Alibaba, Bassiur was vice president and deputy chief security officer at Pfizer Inc.

(Reporting By Lehar Maan in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)