It's a war between online shopping favorites as online marketplace Temu and fast fashion retailer SHEIN have traded accusations against one another. Temu has previously failed a lawsuit against in rival, and Shein has now responded with a lawsuit of its own.
SHEIN and Temu have a history of suing one another with the latter first suing its competitor in December 2022. Their cases against one another were dismissed at both their request in October 2023. However, given the latest developments, it seems these two are not done with one another.
Temu's December 2023 Lawsuit
Temu ended last year with a bang by filing another lawsuit against SHEIN, accusing the latter of using "Mafia-style" intimidation tactics on merchants. Furthermore, the lawsuit has accused SHEIN of illegally interfering with Temu's business.
According to the lawsuit, "SHEIN recently has gone so far as to falsely imprison merchants doing business with Temu, including detaining merchant representatives in SHEIN's offices for many hours while SHEIN confiscates the merchants' electronic devices, obtains access to proprietary Temu information through the merchants' seller accounts, and threatens the merchants with penalties for doing business with Temu."
You can read the lawsuit in its entirety here.
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SHEIN Fires Back
Eight months after the lawsuit was filed by Temu, SHEIN has responded with a lawsuit of its own. In its own complaint, SHEIN has called its rival "an unlawful enterprise built on counterfeiting, theft of trade secrets, infringement of intellectual property rights, and fraud."
SHEIN alleges that Temu is not a marketplace and that the company has a tight grip on its sellers. The lawsuit further alleges that Temu dictates what products can be listed, what prices they can be sold at, and whether or not a product should be removed for infringement.
The lawsuit goes on to say that Temu encourages sellers "to infringe the intellectual property rights of others."
You can read the lawsuit in its entirety here.
