Dive Brief:
- Shein and Temu have filed to voluntarily dismiss their legal complaints against each other over copyright and antitrust concerns, according to court documents filed last week.
- Lawyers for the fast fashion rivals filed the requests to dismiss both cases on Oct. 26, but neither document states the reason. Each party is paying its own attorneys’ fees.
- Despite the cases being dismissed, both companies still are involved in other legal disputes. Temu is being accused of failing to secure its customers’ personal and financial data in a class action lawsuit, and Shein is facing several copyright infringement cases from individuals, including one under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization, or RICO, Act.
Dive Insight:
Shein accused Temu of mimicking it on social media and in web ads to trick users into downloading Temu’s app and visiting its website in December 2022.
Later, a federal judge granted Shein an emergency temporary restraining order against Temu, which restricted Temu from “ongoing infringement” of trademarks and copyrights related to Shein.
Temu sued Shein in July for allegedly violating U.S. antitrust laws, saying Shein devised a scheme to lock up its supply chain and engaged in bullying tactics to coerce manufacturers into avoiding business with Temu.
At the time of that complaint, a spokesperson for Temu said the company had been the target of Shein’s “unlawful exclusionary tactics,” including the alleged exclusive-dealing arrangements with merchants.
“For a long time, we have exercised significant restraint and refrained from pursuing legal actions,” the spokesperson said at the time. “However, Shein’s escalating attacks leave us no choice but to take legal measures to defend our rights and the rights of those merchants doing business on Temu, as well as the consumers’ rights to a wide variety of affordable products. Our legal measures aim to bring the other party back to the rule-based fair competition, which will benefit all participants in the ecosystem, including consumers, suppliers, and service providers.”
Lawmakers are investigating both companies — along with Nike and Adidas — for their labor practices. Preliminary findings in that research note that both Temu and Shein circumvented certain customs scrutiny due to a provision of the Tariff Act of 1930, which mostly exempts packages worth less than $800 from being reviewed.
Spokespeople for Temu and Shein didn’t respond to Fashion Dive’s request for comment ahead of press time.
