Sheinaccused Temu of allowing merchants to steal photos directly from its website on an “industrial scale” – a claim that fell flat as Temu was found to have neither authorised nor known about the alleged infringement. For small UK sellers using platforms like Etsy, Amazon, and eBay, where product image theft is commonplace, the case raises an awkward question: if a retail giant couldn’t win this fight, what chance do independent sellers have of protecting their imagery? Shein loses major copyright lawsuit against rival Temu In a new chapter of the ongoing rivalry between Temu vs Shein, Shein lost its London lawsuit against Temu after a High Court judge rejected its attempt to hold the company liable for copyrighted clothing photos uploaded by third-party sellers on the platform. Shein accused Temu of widespread infringements, claiming the platform allowed merchants to use photos lifted directly from its website to advertise clothing sold on Temu. The dispute originally involved thousands of Temu listings, but this was later reduced to a smaller group of sample images, including a “Strawberry Nightdress” that had been delisted from Shein due to poor sales, before appearing on Temu with the same image.