Since launching last year, Temu has very quickly become a chart-topping app in a number of countries and has very recently overtaken its rival platform Shein in Japan and South Korea, for example. With the tagline "Shop Like a Billionaire", Temu has a catalogue of over 25 million items at very low prices. Temu keeps its prices so low by operating as an intermediary platform between customers and suppliers, being responsible only for handling the shipping of items.
Temu has recently filed a lawsuit in Illinois claiming trade mark infringement, unfair competition, cybersquatting and false designation of origin against 20 websites which allegedly use the TEMU trade mark to dupe customers and create a false association with the brand. These websites include temuapp.biz and temucouponcodes.com.
Temu is seeking either monetary compensation for damages, or US$100,000 per use of the TEMU trade mark. The company has also requested that the Court place temporary bans on the websites in question whilst the lawsuit is ongoing.
"Fraudsters are posing as Temu on fake apps and websites to scam consumers. This not only damages our reputation but also hurts consumers who have been deceived into believing that they were engaging with genuine Temu platforms".
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