Shein Facing New Lawsuit for Copyright and Racketeering Charges

NEW YORK, July 13– A complaint has been filed, on July 11, by Krista Perry, Larissa Martinez, and Jay Baron against Shein Distribution Corporation and its collective business associates (Roadget Business Pte. Ltd, Zoetop Business Company, Limited, and et.al) for racketeering and corrupt business practices as an organization. David Erickson is an Interested Party in the suit. They have been accused of infringing on the designs and artwork of creators to produce, distribute, sell, and copy the works of the plaintiffs. They allege that it is part of the organization’s DNA and process to algorithmically use designs in their corrupt business practices on a large and systematic scale, according to The Fashion Law.

When Shein copies a small or independent designer, the most likely outcome (without brand protection specialists and specialized software on the lookout) is that the infringement will go unnoticed

Plaintiffs

Shein is a Chinese retail agency and titan in modern fashion for everyday folks in the fashion industry to everyday people in the hood. It’s impossible to say how Shein manufactures its items without an investigation. They have been issued other complaints in the past to cease and desist behavior by other suits related to copyright and trademark cases relying heavily on the coat being clear to reorder and sell in small quantities in the event that they are hit with infringing.

Barron’s “Make It Fun” artwork (left) & a Shein print (right) Source: The Fashion Law

“Under those circumstances, Shein reaps all the benefits of stealing and featuring the design that its technology had identified as valuable enough to take: it makes sales and keeps it customers’ eyes glued to the Shein site and app for that much longer. And if customer demand justifies it, the item is reordered, and more are sold (now that the coast has been determined to be clear).”

Plaintiffs
Shein Named in Copyright, Racketeering Lawsuit Over Alleged Infringement Scheme
Source: The Fashion Law

They also made a claim that the distribution organization is made up of a multiplicity of entities with an outwardly decentralized structure which helps them in avoiding liability for intellectual infringement by placing the blame on an independent company unrelated to them when in reality they are connected to Shein.

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