A Raleigh artist’s design was stolen and sold as copies on the popular shopping app Temu.
WRAL 5 On Your Side found that’s a common complaint against the relatively new retailer. Our team also learned some of Temu’s business practices that make counterfeits and other dangerous products difficult for US officials to catch before they reach your home.
Stolen art
Liz Bradford’s work has been featured in museums, parks, books and magazines. She also has her own Etsy shop, which she runs from her home in Raleigh.
“I have stickers, fine prints, mugs, t-shirts and everything I do in the house, myself,” Bradford said.
During the holiday season, Bradford noticed that her sales were down. Then she received a message from an Etsy customer that seemed to explain the drop.
“[She] said, “I just want to contact you and let you know that Temu is selling your art,” Bradford said the Etsy customer told her.
The design, which was stolen from a vendor and sold to Temu, was one of Bradford’s best-sellers, a “maniac bird” sticker. It was listed on Temu and featured the same photos and description used by Bradford on her Etsy page, but sold for less than $2, while Bradford was selling it for $7.
“It hit really hard,” Bradford said. “People steal a lot of stuff online, but for someone with such a huge budget and reach to just blatantly take my product and photos is very infuriating.”
Copyright and trademark infringement complaints against Temu happen enough that the Better Business Bureau recently issued an alert directing people with these complaints to the feds that enforce the infringement rules.
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How Temu works
There is another component to the way Temu works that makes it difficult to catch these counterfeit goods. It is called the de minimis threshold.
Typically, when a retailer imports its products into the US, it is done in bulk. The trader has to pay customs duties and his shipments go through detailed customs checks.
However, an item that costs less than $800 does not receive the same scrutiny. This is the de minimis threshold.
Temu takes advantage of this rule by sending packages individually addressed directly to you. This avoids taxes and certain checks.
There are risks to you when you buy products that are shipped this way. U.S. Customs and Border Protection says an imported item that is not fully inspected may have hazardous ingredients or be hazardous.
In the past year, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled two products sold by Temu for failing to meet US safety standards.
Customs and Border Protection says that overall, China, where Temu is based, is the main source economy for counterfeit and pirated products with dangerous properties.
Other risks can include baby formula or cosmetics with unknown ingredients, fake prescriptions with harmful chemicals, toys that contain lead paint or lithium-ion batteries that can catch fire.
In fiscal year 2022, CBP says it processed 685 million de minimis shipments.
Nearly 25 million counterfeit goods were seized. The estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of the seized goods, if they were original, was nearly $3 billion.
What Temu is doing with the de minimis threshold is not illegal, but two bills were introduced by Congress in 2023 in an attempt to reform the policy.
Temu sent 5 On Your Side this de minimis statement:
“Temu’s growth does not depend on the de minimis policy. The main drivers behind our rapid expansion and market acceptance are the supply chain efficiencies and operational skills we have cultivated over the years. We are open to and support any policy adjustments made by legislators that are consistent with consumer interests. We believe that as long as these policies are fair, they will not affect the results of competitive business dynamics. We also see such reforms as potential avenues to alleviate concerns among various stakeholders, promoting better understanding and highlighting the importance of each player in the market ecosystem.
“Although Temu is a young company with just over a year of experience, we have always prioritized compliance with rules and regulations. Our commitment to full compliance has been unwavering from the start and underpins all of our business activities. Given that Temu’s parent company is valued at over $190 billion and has enough cash flow and financial strength, it doesn’t make sense to ignore the rules or clean up, especially when starting a new business. Such actions are not beneficial to the long-term growth of either the new business or the parent company. They also don’t make short-term economic sense.”
Temu says he is making changes
Temu did apologize to Bradford for what happened, but Bradford said the retail giant had gone deep into her business.
“I sold about 800 of these stickers in the past year and Temu, however long it was, sold about 2,000,” she explained. “If any of that traffic would get in my way … I think it definitely hurts me financially.”
Temu told Bradford that they had removed fake copies of her artwork, but made no offer to compensate her for the money the company made from her designs.
“It takes a lot of work to set up a business selling art,” Bradford said. “It’s just been slowly getting ripped out from under me lately.”
WRAL 5 On Your Side started asking Temu questions about Bradford’s situation. The company responded with the following statement and said the comment on intellectual property (IP) rights updates had not been previously reported:
“Ms Bradford lodged a complaint through our IP portal on 28 December. The infringing item in question was taken down the very next day, December 29, as soon as we verified her copyright ownership. We have taken the further step of adding her designs to our image library to prevent future sales of pirated products. We have informed her of our actions to protect her intellectual property rights.
“Temu has been online for just over a year and since we launched, we’ve paid close attention to feedback from brands and copyright owners, constantly upgrading our intellectual property protection system. In September last year, we upgraded from handling complaints by email to launching a dedicated IP protection portal for rights holders, to make it easier for them to submit and track their cases. We recently tested and launched a beta version of an improved Brand Protection Center to facilitate more comprehensive coverage of similar designs and images.
“We have significantly expanded our IP protection team as our business has grown, resulting in rapid improvements in complaint handling efficiency. Compared to our peers, we have significantly improved the speed of our takedown process, now resolving over 98% of takedown notices in just a few days, which is much faster than the industry average.
“The effectiveness of our comprehensive efforts to improve the protection of intellectual property is clearly demonstrated by the continuous reduction in both the absolute number of complaints and their ratio to our total business volume.
“As we continually improve methods of protecting intellectual property rights, we have noticed that artists, unlike larger traditional brand owners, face more difficulties in protecting their rights. Typically, these artists work in small, individual studios and lack the extensive legal resources that major labels possess. They often do not have enough copyright protection for their work beforehand. This gap can distract them from their creative pursuits, especially when they have to file complaints.
“With that in mind, we were actively considering. On the one hand, we are working to improve our machine learning capabilities to more proactively identify and prevent listing of products that may infringe copyright. On the other hand, we are exploring ways to improve our current IP protection portal to offer more targeted support to creators, helping them protect their rights more effectively.
“For this purpose, we seek the help of journalists like you. We encourage you to inform us of any complaints from artists, as we are eager to assist them and address their concerns. Our goal is to enrich their experience and protect their rights through meaningful We recognize that supporting creators is not just about meeting their immediate needs; it is also vital to the long-term growth and health of our platform.
“Providing robust protection for these independent creators and valuing their contributions is key to keeping our platform dynamic and engaging.” This approach not only nurtures a space for creativity, but also encourages more people to share their unique talents on our platform, integrating them into our expansive, global supply chain. This commitment underscores our commitment to fostering creativity and supporting small businesses.”
