Platform offers advice and support for designers hit by Chinese site’s plagiarism
The Temu copycat fight is gathering pace with McDaniels Law being successful in seeing some plagiarised designs removed from the Chinese-owned online marketplace while Thortful has also joined in support for creatives, issuing advice on how to tackle the issue themselves.
As more publishers are finding exact copies of their original cards available through various sellers without permission on the platform, McDaniels Law MD Kelly Hudson said: “On the Dandelion Stationery front, Temu seem to have removed all offending items but have not responded to the letter yet.”
And the intellectual property specialist law firm, which stepped up to assist after PG Buzz broke the story on 15 October, is busy preparing reporting guidance for Temu infringements which the GCA will publish.
At Thortful, the UK-based online greeting card marketplace known to look after the artists, designers and publishers that sell through its platform, MD Pip Heywood has overseen social media posts promising: “We won’t stand by and let our creators be exploited, which is why we’re committed to supporting them in pursuing claims directly.”
As the marketplace champions independent card creators by hosting their work, it’s unable to directly take action because that has to come from the designer as the IP owner.
Following on from the PG Buzz story, where Bold & Bright founder Thea Musselwhite and Dandelion’s Jo Wilson led the charge to stop this pernicious practice, others publishers and many who sell through Thortful have found their copyright being infringed, and the marketplace has issued advice on its blog explaining how to claim directly against Temu.
Thortful’s Pip said: “Our creators put a huge amount of effort into their work, with some even exclusively partnering with us and relying on royalties from each card sale for their livelihoods. When fast consumer marketplaces like Temu take designs from our site, it undermines our creators. They’ve dedicated countless hours to develop their ideas, only to see them sold at low prices with no compensation.
“We’ve worked with our legal team at Cripps to develop a template and step-by-step process for our creators to pursue a copyright claim directly as IP owners.
“Alongside this we are liaising with the GCA and lobbying the government directly – something which should chime with our new government’s manifesto on protection of creative industries which stresses the importance of protecting intellectual property rights and ensuring creators are fairly compensated for their work.
“Lastly, we are petitioning Temu directly to both rectify the current situation and understand their proposed checks and balances to ensure this cannot happen again.”
Paper Plane’s Jack Thorpe has taken a humorous approach on social media with his photo of his self-design tote bag saying “F**k Temu”, while asking: “There’s a lot of talk about UK designers being ripped off by sellers on Temu and similar marketplaces. What can be done to stop it?”
Of the effect on the business he runs with partner Laura, Jack said: “We’ve seen listings on Temu claiming to have sold 100,000-plus of our designs. I’ve no idea how true that is, but even a fraction of that severely impacts us. Every sale that someone else makes using our intellectual property is like stealing directly from our bank account.
“When our artwork is stolen, all we can do is ask for the site hosting it to remove it. Often, they do but, if they don’t, the only recourse we have is to engage solicitors, which is prohibitively expensive.”
And Sarah Wilkinson, who runs Silky Rose Designs, added: “I work very hard to create original designs and make sure not to copy other artists. I have a few select platforms that I sell my cards on so, seeing my designs showing up on large websites like Temu, where I’ve not licensed the artwork, and knowing someone else is profiting off my work is infuriating.
“It’s honestly so disheartening to discover your designs being stolen. You get a horrible sinking feeling in your stomach. I’ve worked so hard to build up an original catalogue and put so much of myself into turning my designing into a business.”
Bex Hassett has also been posting on social media having found her Bexy Boo cards on the Chinese platform: “I’m so upset to see my designs stolen and being sold through Temu – shame on you!
“I know this has happened to a lot of my fellow greeting card friends and we’re working hard to get these taken down. It’s heartbreaking.
“Please support all us creatives by only buying original designs and keeping our industry flourishing.”
Thea said: “It’s been very time-consuming trawling their website trying to find my designs to report. As Temu is a fairly new company, hopefully they will become a bit better ethically, especially after being called out on it. I’m not sure who can take direct responsibility to report the issue, probably the designer, but the guidance from Thortful is a big help.”
Creators can find Thortful’s template here, along with a step-by-step process to follow to effectively express concerns to Temu.
To help protect creators further, Pip has shared the recently-updated advice from the government on protecting intellectual property on Temu by registering for a user account on the platform’s IP Protection Portal then use the three-step takedown process for reporting infringements, also submit and manage global IP reports via a single account, and register trademarks via the Temu Brand Registry Tool for streamlined trademark infringement reporting.
To find stolen designs online, use relevant keywords in Temu’s search function, and reverse image search your designs to see if they appear there or on other websites – on Google Chrome right-click the image and select Search With Google Lens, on Microsoft Edge right-click the image and choose Search In Sidebar for image – but do be aware reverse image search is not always 100% accurate.
