Shein Sues Temu for Copyright Infringement

In a civil complaint filed Monday, Chinese fast fashion giant Shein alleges that fellow Chinese fast fashion giant Temu should be held accountable for running “an illegal enterprise based on counterfeiting, trade secret theft, intellectual property infringement, and fraud while attempting to infiltrate the U.S. with its platform,” and accuses Temu of posing as “a legitimate e-commerce ‘marketplace.’”

Shein, which is already very popular on the first page the complaintclaims that Temu “is not really a ‘marketplace’ platform at all.”

“It controls every aspect of its sellers’ activities. It determines what products they can list and the prices they can sell for; encourages them to infringe on the intellectual property rights of others; and even prevents them from removing their products from Temu’s website after they admit to infringing. These are not the actions of a legitimate third-party ‘marketplace,'” Shein claims.

“Temu is massively, continuously and illegally infringing SHEIN’s rights, directly and through its suppliers that Temu controls. Temu uses deceptive and unlawful tactics, including theft of trade secrets, trademarks and copyrights. SHEIN believes that evidence will show that Temu is engaged in infringing activities that wrongfully mislead consumers, suppliers and the public,” a Shein spokesperson told 404 Media.

“Temu is not a typical infringer,” the complaint continues. “In order to advertise the counterfeit versions of SHEIN products, Temu reproduced virtually identical copyrighted images of SHEIN products and used them, or directed sellers to use them, as promotional images on the Temu website and mobile application.”

Shein has long been accused of blatant theft of its designs by both major fashion brands and small independent artists. The company has been accused by brands like Dr. Martens, Ralph Lauren, Levi Strauss, Puma, Adidas and H&M for copying their work, while indie artists are often forced to just accept it that their designs will be copied by fast fashion companies including Shein, or hope that their fans will boycott buying ‘dupes’ for extremely low prices on Shein and Temu.

This makes Shein’s claims in this lawsuit quite rich. It accuses Temu of the same undermining it has been doing to designers for years. The 80-page complaint includes images it claims are evidence of Temu stealing Shein’s designs:

Shein also claims that Temu is posing as Shein on Twitter and using Shein tags on its own items.

“Temu entices U.S. consumers to download and use its mobile application with promises of extremely low prices. But Temu does not profit from the sale of these products, which are priced so low that Temu must subsidize each sale and lose money on each transaction,” the complaint continues. “Only by encouraging its sellers to infringe on the intellectual property rights of others and sell counterfeit or inferior goods can Temu hope to minimize the enormous losses it subsidizes.”

The two fast fashion retailers have a long history of sparring in court. In 2023, Temu sued Shein, claiming that there is “mafia-style intimidation” from manufacturers. “Shein has recently gone so far as to wrongfully imprison merchants who do business with Temu, including detaining merchant representatives in Shein’s offices for hours while Shein confiscates merchants’ electronic devices, gains access to Temu’s proprietary information through merchants’ merchant accounts, and threatens merchants with penalties for doing business with Temu,” Temu’s complaint filed. That case is still ongoing. Temu made similar allegations in a lawsuit earlier that year, and in March 2023, Shein accused Temu of hiring social media influencers to make “false and misleading statements” against Shein. Both cases were dismissed.

Shein is asking for a jury trial. Temu did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Updated at 11:27am EST with comment from Shein.

About the author

Sam Cole writes from the farthest corners of the internet about sexuality, the adult industry, online culture, and AI. She is the author of How Sex Changed the Internet and The Internet Changed Sex.