Shein and Temu, the fast fashion juggernauts, each dismissed lawsuits against the other last week—call it a truce.
In a joint stipulation of voluntary dismissal filed on Oct. 26 in a Northern Illinois court, Roadget Business, which owns Shein’s trademarks and operates its global website, dropped a lawsuit against PDD Holdings, Temu’s parent company. The lawsuit alleged that Temu had infringed on Shein’s copyright and trademarks, impersonated Shein and used social media to make “false and deceptive statements” against the Missguided and Forever 21 partner.
Shein also extended its lawsuit to include Twitter, the social media platform now known as X. Roadget’s joint stipulation of voluntary dismissal does not mention Twitter or X Corp. Shein alleged in the lawsuit against Twitter that the social media giant had refused to comply with subpoenas related to Twitter accounts relevant to the Temu lawsuit.
It is not clear from the dismissal document whether this move has any bearing on the lawsuit Shein filed against Temu in September, alleging that Temu copied thousands of images from Shein’s website.
On the same day, Whaleco Inc., which operates Temu’s U.S. business, filed to dismiss its lawsuit against Shein and Roadget in a Massachusetts court. That lawsuit alleged that the big lobbying spender had violated U.S. antitrust laws by using threats, intimidation and false claims of infringement to form exclusive deals with Chinese manufacturers that Temu had come to depend on.
Shein, which on Monday announced its acquisition of British fast-fashion brand Missguided, holds the largest share in the fast fashion market in the U.S., according to Bloomberg Second Measure. Temu, which only popped up last year, has already become one of Shein’s biggest rivals, particularly in the critical U.S. market.
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While Temu’s lawsuit against Shein was not directly related to copyright infringement, Shein has a tough track record when it comes to those types of legal issues.
Shein had been the defendant in scores of lawsuits alleging copyright infringement or trademark infringement including cases brought by H&M, Dr. Martens, Stussy, Chrome Hearts, and a Florida artist. A lawsuit filed this summer goes one step further by accusing the Christian Siriano collaborator of corruption and racketeering.
Meanwhile, Temu faces a lawsuit brought on by Amazon, alleging copyright and trademark infringement for cloning Amazon storefronts on Temu—that is, Temu sellers using Amazon vendors’ photos to sell products for a lower price on the Temu website.
Temu and PDD Holdings did not respond to Sourcing Journal’s requests for comment.
