How the fight against counterfeits on Wildberries works in 2026

Why the problem of counterfeiting remains relevant

Counterfeiting has long ceased to be limited to fakes of luxury brands. Today, violations are found in almost all product categories.

The most common violation schemes include:

• using someone else's trademark without permission; • selling counterfeit products under a well-known brand; • copying photos and descriptions of the original product; • using confusingly similar designations; • selling goods that mislead customers regarding their manufacturer.

For the right holder, this means not only a loss of revenue but also reputational risks—customers rarely distinguish who exactly sold the low-quality product, so the negativity is often associated directly with the brand.

What changed in 2026

2026 became a significant milestone for the regulation of marketplace operations.

First, the largest platforms began implementing the provisions of the Memorandum on Fair Practices of Digital Platforms. As part of the Wildberries roadmap, the development of mechanisms for confirming rightsholder status and the improvement of procedures for reviewing intellectual property infringement claims were announced.

Second, marketplaces gained access to additional tools for verifying intellectual property rights through integration with state registries. This allows for faster identification of trademark owners and resolution of disputed situations.

Third, in June 2026, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation formulated an important legal position: a marketplace cannot limit itself to simply forwarding a rightsholder's complaint to the seller. In the event of a justified claim, the platform is obliged to take measures, including the temporary blocking of disputed product listings. This decision significantly strengthened the position of rightsholders.

What tools does Wildberries use

1. Rightsholder Complaint System

The primary mechanism for fighting counterfeit goods remains the submission of a complaint by the trademark owner or their representative through the marketplace's service, called Digital Arbitration.

Typically, the rightsholder provides a trademark certificate, a license agreement (if necessary), evidence of the violation, and links to product listings.

After reviewing the appeal, the marketplace may block the listing, restrict sales, request documents from the seller, and remove content that infringes on rights.

2. Labeling Verification

For a number of product categories, control through the "Chestny Znak" system is already in effect.

Wildberries checks for the mandatory registration of sellers and is gradually expanding its labeling validation tools. This does not solve the counterfeit problem completely, but it significantly complicates the work of unscrupulous sellers.

3. Rightsholder Verification

One of the platform's development directions has been the idea of a one-time verification of rightsholder status.

After passing the verification, the company will be able to report violations without re-uploading the full package of documents for each complaint. This approach reduces response times and simplifies the large-scale fight against violators.

What tools can the right holder use

As noted above, the right holder can appeal a violation through Digital Arbitration. However, in the case of brand rights infringement, especially systematic ones, removing the disputed listing is only the first step.

To protect brand rights, the right holder may go to court, demand disclosure of information regarding the seller's activities (including sales volumes of counterfeit goods, etc.), and recover compensation or damages incurred due to the illegal use of their trademark.

It should be noted separately that last year the legislator increased the maximum amount of compensation for infringement of exclusive rights to certain intellectual property objects to 10 million rubles.

However, for timely protection, including the prevention of repeated violations, constant monitoring of the marketplace is required. Instead of one-time checks, companies are increasingly using automated violation searches, which allow for tracking new listings, the appearance of disputed designations, suspiciously low prices, the use of branded images, or the activities of networks of interconnected sellers.

How to check for a violation before filing a complaint

Detecting a suspicious product listing does not yet mean that the rights holder is indeed facing a counterfeit. Both counterfeit goods and original products sold without the direct participation of the rights holder can be found on Wildberries. Therefore, before filing a complaint, it is important to conduct a check and determine the legal nature of a specific offer.

First and foremost, it is necessary to establish exactly who is posting the product. The seller's name, links to their profile and product listings, assortment, contact details (if available), and other information that allows linking various offers together should be recorded.

The next stage is the analysis of the listing itself. It is necessary to check which product is offered for sale, how the trademark is used, what photos and descriptions are posted, and whether there are signs of copying the brand's official content. In some cases, signs that the seller is offering products unrelated to official distribution can already be detected from the listing.

Special attention should be paid to the price of the product. A significantly lower cost does not in itself prove the presence of counterfeit, but it can be one of the risk factors, especially if the price differs significantly from the usual cost of a similar original product.

It is also important to consider whether the seller has the right to sell the relevant products. The presence of a product on the marketplace does not automatically mean a violation of exclusive rights. For example, the situation with original products previously legally introduced into civil circulation may differ from the sale of directly counterfeit goods.

Therefore, an effective protection system should separate the identification of a potential violation from its legal qualification. At the first stage, the task is to find as many suspicious offers as possible. At the second stage, it is to filter out legal cases and determine which listings actually require action.

To do this, it is advisable for the rights holder to pre-form criteria by which a listing falls into the risk group. These may include the use of a trademark without permission, a suspiciously low price, lack of information about the official origin of the product, copying of brand photos, the presence of signs of forgery, or the seller's connection with other previously identified violators.

With a large number of offers, such a check becomes a separate task. If a brand is represented on Wildberries by hundreds of models and has a large number of official and third-party sellers, manual analysis of each listing requires significant resources. In addition, the situation is constantly changing: after the removal of one offer, new listings may appear, or a similar product may be posted by another seller.

That is why the most effective approach involves a combination of automated monitoring and expert verification. The system regularly detects potential violations and helps structure information about them, while a specialist checks the results, determines the presence of a violation, and chooses a response method.

This approach allows avoiding two opposite problems: on the one hand, missing new violations, and on the other, the mass filing of unfounded complaints. As a result, the rights holder can focus resources on truly significant cases and simultaneously maintain constant control over the platform.

What an effective brand protection strategy looks like

In 2026, the most effective model is considered to be a multi-level one, which includes:

1. Trademark registration. 2. Continuous monitoring of marketplaces. 3. Rapid identification of violations. 4. Automated preparation of claims. 5. Monitoring the enforcement of marketplace decisions. 6. Legal prosecution of systemic violators.

This approach allows not only for the removal of individual product listings but also for reducing the overall volume of counterfeit products surrounding the brand.

What happens next

Recent trends show that the responsibility of marketplaces for combating counterfeit goods is gradually increasing. Integration with state registries, new requirements for digital platforms, and the development of internal anti-counterfeit mechanisms are making the market more transparent. However, it is impossible to solve the problem entirely through the efforts of marketplaces alone.

Therefore, in the coming years, automatic monitoring technologies and proactive efforts by rights holders will play a key role. The faster a brand detects a violation, the less damage there is to sales and reputation, including customer trust. For companies that actively sell goods through marketplaces, the fight against counterfeiting is already becoming a continuous business process rather than a one-time legal task.

How the fight against counterfeiting works in practice: ZIPDetect case study

Let’s provide an example from ZIPDetect’s case studies. While working with the sleep products brand Darwin in July-August 2026, 2,602 suspicious product listings posted by several dozen sellers were identified on Wildberries.

After verification and the filing of complaints, 1,418 listings (54.8%) were removed from the platform, and in another 1,034 listings, sellers stopped the illegal use of the brand. Thus, rights violations were resolved for 2,452 listings, or 94.8% of the identified violations.

The result was not limited to the removal of already discovered listings. After the first wave of complaints in July 2026, the number of new violations decreased 17-fold. This shows that systematic work with counterfeit goods can not only eliminate already identified violations but also significantly reduce the volume of new listings.

FAQ

1. How to report counterfeit goods on Wildberries?

The right holder or their representative can submit a request through the interaction channels provided by the marketplace for intellectual property issues. Usually, it is required to provide documents proving brand rights (for example, a trademark certificate) and evidence of the violation—links to the disputed product listings. After verification, the marketplace may request additional documents, restrict sales, or delete the product listing.

2. Can Wildberries independently detect counterfeits?

Yes, the marketplace uses various control mechanisms, including verifying seller documents, analyzing complaints from right holders, and working with state information systems. However, due to the vast number of products and sellers, most violations are still detected only after reports from brand owners or through specialized monitoring systems.

3. What to do if a counterfeit reappears after the listing has been deleted?

Relisting products is one of the most common problems on marketplaces. In such a situation, it is important not to limit yourself to a one-time complaint, but to organize constant monitoring of the platform. This allows for the prompt identification of new violations, tracking of interconnected sellers, and the formation of an evidentiary base for further claims or legal actions.