The international e-commerce platform Temu, a subsidiary of the Chinese PDD Holdings, has filed a lawsuit against its Chinese competitor Shein in a court in the US District of Columbia, according to the Reuters news agency. Boston-based WhaleCo Inc, which operates under the name Temu in the US, accuses its Singapore-based competitor Shein of abusing intellectual property laws to prevent retailers and suppliers from working with Temu. Shein is engaging in “mafia-like intimidation” to put pressure on suppliers who also work with Temu. Shein also “wrongfully detained” traders who worked with Temu by detaining them for hours in Shein’s offices, confiscating their electronic devices and threatening them with penalties if they continued to cooperate with Temu.
“We have sued Shein because her behavior has escalated recently. “They started illegally detaining merchants, confiscating their phones, stealing our merchant accounts and passwords, stealing our trade secrets, and at the same time forcing merchants to leave our platform,” a spokesperson for Temu told the agency This isn’t the first time the two rivals have sued each other in U.S. courts. In July, Temu filed a lawsuit in federal court in Boston, accusing Shein of violating U.S. antitrust law in its dealings with clothing manufacturers. In the previous U.S. Shein’s lawsuit against Temu accused Temu of encouraging influencers on social media to make derogatory comments about the fast fashion retailer.
Both companies have However, in October they withdrew their lawsuits against each other without giving reasons.