Temu Enhances Response to Copyright Issues in Greeting Card Industry

Sat Oct 25 2025 17:25:10 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

Online marketplace Temu has pledged to expedite the removal of counterfeit greeting cards from its platform, a move applauded by the Greeting Card Association (GCA) after mapping industry concerns about copyright infringement.

Amidst rising complaints from designers over the rampant copying of greeting card designs, Temu has agreed to improve its takedown process for counterfeit listings. The company will now allow card firms to submit a single link to remove plagiarized products, enabling quicker takedowns. This follows pressure from the GCA and acknowledgment of the emotional and financial toll that such infringements have on designers.

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

Card firms say hundreds of their copyrighted images have been used to create cheap rip-offs, costing them thousands of pounds in lost sales.

Designers told the BBC the process for getting the plagiarised listings removed has been like the fairground game 'whack-a-mole' with copied products re-appearing within days.

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

Amanda Mountain, co-founder of York-based Lola Design, discovered that many of her designs had been copied and sold as cheaper versions without her permission.

With anxiety about the future of the industry and her creative output, Amanda described the emotional toll of fighting against infringement as overwhelming. Every piece that I create is actually a piece of me, she said, emphasizing the personal connection designers have to their work.

In response to industry pressure, Temu has implemented a bespoke takedown process allowing card firms to submit just a single link for multiple infringements, drastically improving the speed of removal. Amanda Fergusson, chief executive of the GCA, expressed optimism about these changes, which could serve as a model for other products.

This trend highlights a critical moment for the greeting card supply chain, which relies on trust and design integrity in a competitive online marketplace.