Fake it until you make it might be an apt slogan for some Chinese companies. Global brands from luxury goods makers to investment banks have frequently found their intellectual property stolen and copied in China.

Still, in recent months, small victories for IP owners such as BMW and ex-basketball player Michael Jordan have suggested the trend is turning. Not at Alibaba, apparently. On Wednesday, the US government put the Taobao website of the New York-listed online marketplace operator back on its blacklist of “notorious markets” after four years in the clear.

Alibaba is crying foul over the decision. It says that its IP protections and anti-counterfeit measures have improved since it was last listed, and that politics are behind the move. Maybe so. Taking to task one of China’s most globally-recognised companies is one way to score a point but it sounds more like a tactic for the incoming Trump administration.