Dafydd MorganNewyddion S4C
A card designer says she has “missed out on a lot of money” after her copyrighted works again appeared on the giant online retailer Temu.
Anwen Williams, who creates Welsh-language cards and gifts for Caernarfon-based Draenog in Gwynedd, said she first saw her ideas being copied and sold without her permission about a year ago.
She complained to Temu, which introduced a new checking system, but she has since seen fake versions of her designs again appearing for sale.
Temu said it reviewed Draenog’s claim and immediately removed the related products.
Following Ms WIlliams’ complaints last year, Temu introduced a new system for the greetings card industry, which it said would speed up the process for removing copied items from the platform and prevent them from being uploaded again.
Previously each case had to be reported individually, but Temu said its technology would now work with one example and remove any products with similar designs.
But this week Ms Williams saw her copyrighted designs appearing once again on Temu.
Ms Williams said: “I came across a card from one of my designs on Temu. They managed to take it down from what I’ve seen.
“But today I’ve come across the card again on another version of Temu, operating in Canada.”
She added: “So I have no idea if there are other versions of the card on sale in other countries, or even here in the UK.
“It is very difficult to know how long the designs have been on Temu and how many have sold exactly.
“They’re cards that sell well for me, so potentially I have missed out on a lot of money.
“It’s certainly cost me time, where I could be focusing on things that are a lot more important to my business, because it takes a lot of time to solve the problem.”
Cardiff University economist Dr Robert Bowen said businesses were “losing millions of pounds” over issues like this.
“Certainly small businesses face more challenges with this, in terms of copying designs, because they have a lot less resources, less staff, less money to be able to put into processes that can protect what is happening.”
The head of the Federation of Small Businesses Wales, Joshua Miles, said platforms like Temu needed to do more.
“Online platforms are now essential lifelines for many small businesses across Wales, yet problems such as intellectual property theft and ineffective dispute resolution leave businesses exposed and exploited,” he said.
“We know of businesses here in Wales who are being suffocated by a flood of counterfeit versions of their products online.”
Temu said it reviewed Draenog’s claim and immediately removed the related product.
“More than 99% of all requests are resolved within three business days – most within just 24 hours,” it added.