STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -A court in Sweden has found that online fast-fashion retailer Shein infringed on the copyright of smaller rival Nelly by using the Swedish company’s photographs.
The Patent and Market Court said on Friday that Shein’s Ireland-based subsidiary, Infinite Styles Ecommerce, had without permission made copies of pictures owned by Nelly, and used them on Shein’s Swedish website.
“Infinite Styles Ecommerce has thus been guilty of infringing Nelly’s exclusive rights to the photographs,” the court said in the ruling.
Nelly, which owns e-commerce platform Nelly.com and also has its own apparel brand, filed the lawsuit for copyright infringement in September 2024.
The court said Nelly had requested a fine of 500,000 Swedish crowns ($53,400), which Infinite Styles Ecommerce did not object to.
“We are committed to protecting the rights of IP rights holders and take all claims of infringement seriously,” said a Shein spokesperson. “The images in question were removed swiftly.”
The court ordered Infinite Styles Ecommerce to pay Nelly’s legal costs, plus interest.
But it dismissed Nelly’s claim against two other Shein entities – parent company Roadget Business and Dublin-based entity Infinite Styles Services – and ordered Nelly to pay those two firms’ legal costs.
“We welcome the part of the verdict that went our way, but are at the same time disappointed and surprised by the whole,” said Nelly CEO Helena Karlinder-Ostlundh, adding that the company might consider appealing the decision.
($1 = 9.3657 Swedish crowns)
(Reporting by Greta Rosen Fondahn and Anna Ringstrom, additional reporting by Helen Reid, editing by Essi Lehto and Terje Solsvik)
