Temu agrees to remove the fake greeting cards faster

Online shopping giant Temu has agreed to work with the greeting card industry to remove copycat designs from its site more quickly.

Card firms claim hundreds of their copyrighted images have been used to create cheap scams, costing them thousands of pounds in lost sales.

Designers told the BBC that the process of removing the plagiarized listings was like a fairground game of ‘whack a mole’, with copycat products reappearing within days.

Temu said protecting intellectual property is a “top priority” and that it is encouraging sellers to join the trial of a new takedown process specifically for the greeting card industry.

Amanda Mountain, co-founder of York-based Lola Design, discovered that the catalog of designs she had been building for a decade had almost all been copied.

She found that the images she had created had been removed and were being promoted by other sellers of cards and other products such as t-shirts.

Amanda bought one of the cards using her design and found that the image was distorted and the paper was of poorer quality than hers.

“It’s not a nice feeling to see something you’ve put all your love and hours into done in minutes,” she told the BBC. “I was in shock and I actually thought ‘what’s the point of continuing to design, I might as well just stop now’.

Amanda and her husband and business partner Frank estimate that fraudulent versions of their products have netted online sellers £100,000 in sales, which equates to around 13% of Lola Design’s annual turnover.

However, Amanda said both the emotional toll and the time it took to remove the copycats had the biggest impact.

“Every piece I create is actually a part of me,” she said. “I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true. Every designer gives a piece of themselves because they just want to create a little happiness, and it’s not too much to ask people to respect that.”

Following pressure from the Greeting Card Association (GCA), Temu introduced a customized takedown process for the industry, which it says will mean stolen designs are removed more quickly and will not be able to be re-uploaded.

Previously, card companies had to report each individual list, but as part of the trial period they will now only have to send one link. The software will remove the product and all others using the same design.

One card issuer that helped develop the new system saw 68 listings automatically removed. Something that previously might have meant 68 separate forms or emails to Temu.

According to GCA, the system will then use AI to register the designer’s original creation as a protected image. It will then block any products using this design before they appear for sale.

In a statement, Temu said that “protecting intellectual property is a top priority” and that it has “invested heavily in resources to strengthen trust with brands, sellers and consumers.”

He said most requests to remove copyrighted content were resolved within three business days, but greeting card companies were encouraged to join the new trial, which he said would lead to more products being automatically removed.

The system has been specifically designed for the card industry, but the BBC understands that it can be used as a model for similar or alternative processes for other products.

Amanda Ferguson, chief executive of the GCA, said the industry welcomed the changes. “We know that our members feel very strongly about copycat sellers, and what’s more, we also know that customers are often disappointed by cheap copies,” she said.

“Our dialogue with Temu and the actions they are taking are a welcome first step in addressing these issues,” she added.

For Amanda and Frank, it’s not just their livelihood that’s at stake, but the future of the entire supply chain that relies on the 1.5 billion greeting cards sold in the UK each year.

“At some point consumers will be affected and not just us as designers because there won’t be high streets,” Amanda said. She also had a message for people who buy copy cards: “Cheap always has a price.”