Temu wins High Court copyright battle against fast fashion rival Shein

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A High Court judge has ruled that fast fashion platform Temu did not breach the copyright of competitor Shein regarding promotional clothing photos published on its UK website.

Shein UK alleged that 2,559 product images were improperly used by Temu.

According to the company, these comprised 2,285 photos taken by Shein staff, 263 supplied by external manufacturers, and 11 shot by freelance photographers or marketing agencies.

After formally writing to Temu in June 2023 to demand the removal of the images, Shein pursued High Court litigation via Roadget Business, its parent company.

However, in a judgment delivered on Thursday, Mrs Justice Bacon concluded that Shein UK did not possess the copyright for the staff photographs at the point the demand was issued.

The judge highlighted that those workers were employed by Chinese affiliate Guangzhou Shein, rather than the UK entity.

Mrs Justice Bacon said in a judgment on Thursday that Shein UK did not own the copyright of the employee photographs at the time it sent that letter, as the companies were employed by Shein UK’s Chinese counterpart, Guangzhou Shein (AFP/Getty)

Shein UK subsequently secured a licence granting rights to the pictures through an agreement completed on 19 July 2023.

Shein UK also did not know whether or not it owned the copyright for the other photographs from suppliers, freelancers or agencies, Mrs Justice Bacon said.

The judge went on to say that following the letter and two court orders, Temu removed “thousands” of product listings from its website.

Whaleco UK, which runs Temu, denied that it infringed Shein UK’s copyright and brought a counterclaim saying that these removals caused it financial loss and that Shein UK was deliberately trying to stifle its business as a competitor.

A separate trial to decide whether Shein UK was stifling competition has been set for November in a specialist court.

Mrs Justice Bacon accepted that there was no copyright infringement and that Temu did suffer loss, with the amount to be determined after a further trial.

Shein UK claimed that photographs of its products taken by employees, as well as by freelancers, agencies or suppliers, were also used on Temu (Reuters)

She said: “There is no doubt that Temu is aware that some of the photographs uploaded by merchants may infringe copyright.

“There is, however, nothing in the evidence before the court to suggest that the Temu platform incorporates tools specifically intended to facilitate the uploading of infringing images, or that Temu encourages or promotes the use of infringing images.”

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