Brands accuse Shein over copyright infringement, e-tailer denies claims

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Jun 14, 2021

Dr Martens owner AirWair International is taking legal action against Shein over alleged trademark infringements. And other brands have also complained of direct copies being sold on the site.

The online fast-fashion giant is facing legal action after being accused of “clear intent to sell counterfeits” by AirWair in a complaint filed in California, reported the Financial Times.

Dr Martens highlighted a product labelled as a ‘Martin boot' on Shein, adding that it not only created direct copies of its products, but also used “photographs of genuine Dr Martens footwear to entice customers to its website to buy fake copy footwear”. Shein has denied the claims.

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Further accusations of “deliberate and calculated” copyright infringement have also been tabled by a number of major and independent brands.

According to the FT, independent jewellery brand Kikay was alerted to designs being sold on Shein earlier this month.

After brand co-founder Quinn Jones posted about the alleged infringements on Instagram, the post received thousands of comments, many of which were from independent fashion brands complaining of similar cases.

In response, Shein said: “We take every complaint on intellectual property right infringements seriously, conduct in-depth investigations on such complaints, and take swift actions on suppliers who violate our intellectual property policies. We also continue to invest in and improve our product review process to spot and prevent infringements”, it added.