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Last updated on: April 4, 2023
Shopify is an ecommerce that makes it easy for brands to feature and sell their products and reach their customers. Shopify doesn’t come without risk for brands, though, with fraudulent sellers making up an estimated 1 in every 5 sellers on Shopify. With this issue growing on Shopify, your brand needs to be prepared to file DMCA takedown notices on Shopify as soon as these fake sites appear.
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It’s important to know the protections of every platform and ecommerce site you use for your brand. When it comes to Shopify infringement, the site does what it can to help brands protect their intellectual property. Here’s what Shopify prohibits on its platform and offers support to stop in cases where infringement has occurred:
Shopify copyright infringement occurs when your brand’s “tangible works” have been stolen and misused by an unauthorized party (Shopify). Using product photos, web copy and graphic designs are all a part of copyright infringement on Shopify and elsewhere. This is prohibited by the site and could qualify a Shopify DMCA takedown of the offending website using your copyright content.
Trademarks serve as unique identifiers to help shoppers easily tell which brand a product is coming from. If a website is using your trademark on Shopify, it can be in the form of replicating your brand logo, unique brand phrase, or product packaging. This is meant to confuse and trick consumers and qualifies a DMCA takedown on Shopify
A Shopify DMCA notice is the official correspondence Shopify sends the owners of sites infringing on an existing brand’s copyright and trademarked material. This isn’t a request, and Shopify automatically takes down these sites once they have approved a DMCA takedown request. Though Shopify does what it can to catch fake websites, it often can’t identify a majority of infringers unless a report is made.
This is why it’s vital that your brand monitors for scam Shopify stores infringing on your brand’s trademark or copyright. If you don’t catch scammers ripping off your brand and submit a DMCA on Shopify, they may not be caught. If you do find a fake Shopify site stealing your brand’s protected content, file a Shopify legal DMCA immediately.
The Shopify DMCA notice and takedown procedure is a fairly simple process that shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. Shopify provides this online form to easily report trademark and copyright infringements. Make sure to have links from the fake website showing where they are infringing on your IP, as the form will ask for proof.
Once your Shopify DMCA has been submitted, Shopify’s legal team will review your request. You should hear back shortly on whether or not they’ve accepted your DMCA. If they have, a Shopify DMCA notice will be sent to the offending website, which will subsequently be taken down.
If your Shopify DMCA request is not accepted, there are more steps you can take to continue this process. You can gather more proof of the Shopify site’s trademark or copyright infringement and file another report. With the proper proof, your request is likely to get approved, so ensure your copyrights and trademarks are up-to-date and easily defendable.
An overwhelming number of stores on Shopify are believed to be fake, and rip off content from legitimate brands. Scammers easily set up these sites with stolen content and product photos to sell their knock-off counterfeit goods and obtain shoppers’ sensitive information. This poses a threat not only to your customers who may be fooled by these sites but to your brand as well.
By using your intellectual property, these scam sites diminish your revenue by luring your would-be customers in with great deals you could never replicate. This not only takes sales from your business and hurts your revenue but can jeopardize your brand’s reputation. To protect your customers and your brand, it is essential you safeguard your intellectual property from infringement on Shopify.
Proactively monitoring scam Shopify stores is the best way to stay protected. If you simply wait for your customers to alert you to a scammer using your content, irreparable damage to your brand has likely already occurred. It’s vital that you get the proper licenses for your IP, and actively monitor for intellectual property infringement on fake Shopify sites and take them down.
Fake sites on Shopify are a growing problem and pose a threat to your customers, brand revenue, and brand reputation. Monitoring for trademark, copyright, and intellectual property infringement and submitting DMCA takedown requests are essential to properly protect your brand from Shopify infringement. Ready to take the next step to ensure your brand is protected? Red Points can make monitoring for infringements easier than ever with brand protection software that does the hard work for you. Request a demo to learn how it works.
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