A month after the California teenage fashion company has filed a lawsuit against Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein due to alleged copyright infringement, unfair competition and misleading sales tactics, it has now brought another complaint against the Chinese online marketplace Temu. Brandy Melville accuses Temu of selling fake versions of his clothes.
On July 21, Bastiat USA, Inc. and Yygm SA (known as Brandy Melville) submitted a lawsuit for Temu to the US district court of New Jersey. Temu is accused of selling imitated versions of his products that violate brand and copyright laws. The lawsuit says that Temu sells illegal imitations of the brandy Melville Designs and use the same pictures as on the official brandy Melville website.
Temu is accused of selling fake brandy melville clothing
The brand also claims that Temu uses a deck bird tactic with which consumers are led to the inside: misleading and supposedly real brandy melville clothing is tempting – however, it is actually inferior images. This is a shame to the brand’s reputation. Brandy Melville also accuses Temu of deliberately violating his trademark rights by using the brands ‘Brandy ♥ Melville’, ‘Chill Since’ and ‘Radio Silence’ without permission. Temu also sells clothes that copy the Eye Fabric Design protected under copyright.
According to an article by The Fashion Law, Brandy Melville continues to argue in the lawsuit that Temu “keeps control of his so -called independent sellers: in almost all aspects of his marketplace”. With this accusation, the brand obviously prepares to counteract one of Temu’s most expected defense strategies: that it is a neutral platform that third -party providers: inside with consumers: connected inside, and therefore cannot be held responsible for the sellers of trademark rights. The distinction between the behavior of the third -party providers: inside and the marketplace itself is crucial. Courts traditionally tend to make marketplace platforms for the actions of third-party providers: to make them liable on the inside on their pages.
The lawsuit also refers to the ongoing legal dispute between Shein and Temu, in which Shein provides similar arguments against Temu. Brandy Melville emphasizes Sheins claims that Temu pretends to be a legitimate marketplace, but actually the behavior of the sellers: check inside. This affects which products would be offered, how the articles are praised and even the prevention that sellers: inside, remove problematic products when problems occur.
Temu control third -party providers: Inside and thus enables legal violations
By claiming Temu Melville claims to dictate the product selection, set prices, changing payments and shipping and apply for products via its app and social media channels, the brand argues that Temu operates more like a traditional retailer than a passive marketplace platform. If this argument is successful in court, Temu could be held responsible for trademark law violations on his website.
If the courts agree, Temu could be liable for the sale of fake goods – not only indirectly through the third -party providers: inside. This would potentially mean significantly higher damage and could fundamentally question the marketplace model, which Temus has made quick growth in the USA. Brandy Melville therefore calls for an immediate failure to sell fake products by Temu, the destruction of all fake goods and marketing materials as well as a complete disclosure of the profits that Temu has achieved with the alleged counterfeits.
The lawsuit against Temu follows a lawsuit that Bastiat USA submitted to the US district court of California against Shein on June 23. There, the Ultra-Fast fashion retailer is accused of copying numerous designs by Brandy Melville and advertising them with actual photos of the original products on his website. The application contains direct comparisons that show the original pictures by Brandy Melville alongside almost identical photos that have allegedly appeared on Sheins platform. Shein is also accused of misleading deck tactics.
Temu and Shein should use ‘decay tactics’
The lawsuits submitted by Brandy Melville fit into the general struggle of fashion designers: inside against product piracy. Fashion designs are traditionally difficult to protect copyrights, since basic forms of clothing, patterns and functional characteristics are considered useful properties and not as protective unique works. Protection only exists if a design has an unmistakable, original expression.
Brands can protect their names, but only if imitations use identical or confusingly similar characters. These legal framework have led to many brands and retailers often copy catwalk designs and independent brands without major consequences.
Brandy Melville’s lawsuits have a stronger basis because they go beyond the mere copying of designs. They claim that Temu and Shein stole the advertising photos and website content from Brandy Melville directly to advertise their imitated products. This represents a clear copyright infringement, since companies are not allowed to use legally protected images of other brands to advertise for their own goods.
In contrast to typical cases of product piracy, which often fight with weak property rights for intellectual property, Brandy Melville focuses on clearly protected content and presents convincing visual evidence in the form of screenshots and direct comparisons. This offers the courts a solid basis for judging the alleged violations of the law.
Fashionunited asked Shein and Temu to comment. There were no answers at the time of publication.
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