In a recent ruling by the High Court of England, the global legal battle between the China-based fast fashion e-commerce platform Shein and the low-cost e-commerce platform Temu has taken a new turn. The court decided that Temu is not liable for the copyright infringement claimed by Shein in a lawsuit involving product photo copyrights, resulting in Shein losing the case in the UK copyright litigation.
Shein and Temu are engaged in fierce competition in global markets such as Europe and America, where they have accused each other of copyright infringement, violating antitrust laws, and engaging in unfair competition in countries like the US and UK. The litigation focuses on issues such as unauthorized use of product images, exclusive agreements with suppliers, and using injunctions to suppress opponents.
This case was initiated by Shein in the UK in August 2023. Shein accused third-party merchants on the Temu platform of extensively using Shein’s own brand clothing photos, alleging copyright infringement, and argued that Temu was not just a third-party seller platform but actively involved in and facilitating the infringing activities.
Judge Kelyn Bacon of the High Court in the UK ultimately dismissed Shein’s main copyright claims. The court found that Shein failed to prove that Temu itself engaged in the relevant copying activities; and even if the alleged infringing activities were indeed present, they occurred outside the UK, making it insufficient to hold Temu liable for copyright infringement under UK law. The fact that Temu’s servers are located in Ireland was also a factor considered by the court in addressing jurisdictional issues.
Simultaneously, Judge Bacon accepted Temu’s “hosting defense,” which provides liability protection for qualified third-party content hosting service providers under the UK’s E-Commerce Regulations 2002. The core principle is that as long as the platform remains neutral and is unaware of illegal content uploaded by users, it is not required to bear civil or criminal liability for the users’ illegal actions such as infringement, defamation, or unlawful speech.
Shein’s spokesperson commented on the outcome, saying, “Despite widespread copying, Temu managed to avoid liability in the UK simply because the servers supporting its UK website happen to be in Ireland.”
This ruling could have a wide-ranging impact on online markets that rely on third-party merchants for operation. As e-commerce platforms increasingly adopt a “platform + third-party sellers” model, the extent to which platforms should be held responsible for infringing content uploaded by sellers has become a critical issue in global intellectual property litigation.
However, the legal battle between Shein and Temu is far from over.
In early 2024, Temu countersued in the UK case, accusing Shein of violating UK competition law by coercing suppliers to sign exclusive arrangements, thereby limiting suppliers from providing goods to both Temu and other competing platforms simultaneously. Temu is currently seeking approximately 4.2 million pounds in damages, while Shein denies the allegations.
In July 2025, Judge Bacon transferred the competition law dispute to the Competition Appeal Tribunal in the UK for review, scheduled for March 2027.
This competition law lawsuit has already involved disputes over Shein’s request for suppliers to sign relevant documents. A judgment released by the UK Court of Appeal in March this year revealed that Temu requested Shein to disclose a list of approximately 450 businesses that signed related supplier documents; the Competition Appeal Tribunal had previously ordered Shein to disclose the information, leading Shein to subsequently appeal.
Both companies are embroiled in lawsuits in the US as well.
In December 2023, Temu sued Shein in the federal district court of Washington, DC, accusing them of engaging in anti-competitive behavior, infringing trade secrets, and abusing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s copyright takedown mechanism.
In September 2025, the US court rejected Temu’s primary antitrust and trade secrets claims but allowed some intellectual property-related claims to proceed.
Shein, on the other hand, filed a countersuit in the same court in August 2024, accusing Temu of commercial secret infringement, copyright violation, trademark issues, and unfair competition. This further escalated the legal battle with reciprocal accusations in the US.
While both Shein and Temu have Chinese origins, their corporate structures and development paths differ. Shein, founded in China, is a fast fashion e-commerce enterprise currently headquartered in Singapore, with its production and supply chain still heavily reliant on China. On the other hand, Temu is a global e-commerce platform under China’s e-commerce group Pinduoduo (PDD Holdings), which rapidly expanded into overseas markets like the US and Europe after its launch in 2022.
Both companies have been affected by changes in the global regulatory environment in recent years. The US has eliminated the “de minimis” treatment for low-value imported parcels, while the EU abolished duty exemptions for imports under 150 euros from July 1, 2026, and imposed a temporary tariff of 3 euros per item on low-value parcels.
These policies are eroding some of the cost advantages that Shein, Temu, and similar platforms have enjoyed in directly shipping low-cost goods to overseas consumers from China. A report by Reuters in August highlighted that Shein is currently facing challenges such as sales pressure in the US, slowing growth, and rising operating costs; the company is adjusting its supply chain strategy and increasing investments in its Chinese production base.
While the UK judgment on August 13 may have temporarily led to Shein’s defeat in a significant copyright lawsuit, it is just a part of the ongoing global legal battle between the two companies. With the UK competition law case set for physical trial in 2027 and continued intellectual property litigation in the US, the business and legal showdown between Shein and Temu is far from over.