How should I react to a DMCA takedown notice for images?

[Secureyourpets]

Hi everyone,

I am new here and recently sat up my shop. I haven't made any sales so far. However, there is problem I faced today. I got an email from Shopify with regards to DMCA takedown notice. I have been using the product images of my Ali baba and Ali express supplier and I have been notified through email about DMCA infringement. Can anyone from Shopify support team help me in this regard? How should I respond to this issue?

[JeremyAdam]

Hey @Secureyourpets 

Great question.

If you got the email from Shopify, you should take it seriously.  Sometimes Alibaba and Aliexpress suppliers use copyrighted photos from brands they are emulating products after and if you use those photos then you could also be using copyrighted photos of products.

Do you have a link to your site where we can see the photos in question?

[Secureyourpets]

Shopify has already take that product's page down so you won't be able to view. I was using the supplier's product images. I have linked it through oberlo. I have vendor's store link and I can justify the case to them. Please guide me how to close this issue. 

[JeremyAdam]

You should reach out to Shopify support team to resolve the issue, but just because you got the image from the vendor does not mean that it's not a copyrighted image. Like I said, sometimes vendors on Alibaba and Aliexpress steal copyrighted images to showcase products that they are emulating and if you put that image on your site then you are technically also using copyrighted images.

I would ready out to Shopify's support team and tell them what happened and they can talk you through it, but I would think you jus need to find a different image to use for the product or just remove that product from your store forever.

[Secureyourpets]

Thank you Jeremy for your kind support. I have disabled the product and removed all that product images. I also replied back to the Shopify legal email about what caused the issue and I wasn't intentionally using the infringed copyright products. I have removed the product and everything of that sort. However, I am very worried whether I still get into lawsuit for this?  

[Secureyourpets]

Above all, I haven't made a single sale and I just paying the Shopify monthly subscriptions without being actively pursuing it. Now, when I was willing to take this serious, I got the DMCA notice which is quite demotivating for me because that product was linked through Oberlo about 4 months ago. 

[JeremyAdam]

I understand.

Don't worry, you won't get any kind of lawsuit for using a picture of a product that has not made you any money. If you used the photo and made a lot of money from it they might come after you, but in this case, you have removed the product and you should be just fine.

I can definitely see this kind of thing being demotivating, but simply take it as a lesson learned, my friend. And a good lesson too! If you had made the same mistake years from now after making a lot of sales you may have been in for a lawsuit indeed! But at this point in time you can simply take it as a lesson learned and move on without much trouble, so it's a good thing!

I hope this helps!

[Secureyourpets]

Thanks a lot Jeremy. You helped and encouraged me greatly. Yes, it is indeed a lesson for me to look at things carefully every single time. Your words really inspired me. I hope everyone's as good as you in this world. I hope you would get all the happiness in the world. Thank you once again.  

[JeremyAdam]

Thank you so much! I wish you all the best!

[Adorime]

How to appeal DMCA, I don't know if i can relist my products by using other images cause images i use before are all from Amazon, and these toys are remove by copyright owner before.

[Hokage_Ryan]

Hello!

I recently had a similar experience and may be able to give you some insight into this. When looking at the DMCA Takedown Notice against you, was the name of the Company that filed the notice "Remove Your Media LLC"?

[Secureyourpets]

No brother, it was from Good air team LLC. The guy's email address is also mentioned in the notice and I am thinking of reaching out to him through email and let him know the real cause of the issue and how I took it down from my store.