A merchant reports experiencing repeated fraudulent DMCA takedown notices from a competitor—three claims filed in quick succession. Each takedown occurs within minutes, but resolution takes weeks, causing significant business damage.
Key impacts:
Lost advertising and app subscription costs
Google Merchant account suspended due to broken links
Competitor allegedly captured $200k in sales during the two-week takedown period
Product images were sourced from suppliers and edited in Canva, believed to be copyright-free
Merchant’s concerns:
DMCA counter-notice process appears ineffective
Trust & Safety team takes 10+ days to respond while takedowns happen in 5 minutes
System appears exploitable for competitive sabotage
Total investment lost: ~$2k in ads plus 30 hours of work
Shopify’s response:
A community moderator explains they’re legally obligated to remove reported content immediately. Reviews require time and only the Trust & Safety team can handle these sensitive cases. No timeline provided for resolution.
Status: Multiple other merchants report identical experiences with fake DMCAs. The issue remains unresolved, with one user escalating to Shopify’s CEO on Twitter/X. The discussion reflects widespread frustration with the current DMCA process and perceived lack of merchant protection.
Summarized with AI on October 31.
AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
My competitor filed the third time a fake DMCA against me. I lost ad money, apps money, my google merchant account is suspended because of non functioning link (because taken down from shopify). I’d like to clarify that the content, which was accused of infringing the Complainant’s intellectual property rights, is not copyrighted. The images on my store were sourced from my supplier and edited using Canva dot com. These images were obtained assuming they were copyright-free. I would like to express my concern regarding the situation at hand. After reviewing the circumstances surrounding the copyright claim, it appears that this issue might be a strategic attempt by a competitor to impede my business operations and hinder my ability to sell a specific product. It seems evident that the DMCA claim was made with the intention of creating an unnecessary obstruction in my business activities.
I respectfully request that Shopify’s Trust & Safety team, in coordination with your legal department, review this situation closely. I believe it is important to ensure that the DMCA process is not exploited for competitive advantage and that legitimate business activities are not hindered by unwarranted claims.
Should it be necessary to provide additional information or evidence to support my stance, I am prepared to do so promptly. I am fully committed to abiding by all legal requirements and cooperating with Shopify’s procedures.
After waiting for 10 days without receiving any responses from the legal team, encountering an additional three filed DMCA claims aimed at shutting down my business, and engaging in multiple unhelpful support chats, I find myself at a loss for the appropriate course of action. It’s disheartening to note that while my competitor managed to swiftly execute a DMCA claim in just 5 minutes, it took Shopify 10 minutes to take down my product page on three separate occasions. Despite this, I’ve been waiting for a single email response for 10 days now, pertaining to a fraudulent DMCA claim.
Regrettably, the DMCA counter notice page has proven ineffective in yielding any results. This situation has left me feeling deeply disillusioned with your systems, as I perceive a sense of betrayal in this experience.
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience and your concerns. I definitely understand how important it is to receive a resolution to this problem and the impact these DMCA notices are having on your business.
Our Trust and Safety team are legally obligated to remove material that has been reported. This action is not taken with prejudice. This is also why there is the option to provide a counter DMCA with all the information on where the content was sourced and how it is not infringing on someone else’s copyright.
These types of reviews do take time. Our escalated teams strive to review and resolve these issues as quickly as possible. Each notice of this nature is handled at a high priority.
it takes 5 minutes to create a dmca against a shop and takedown the shop owners product
but it takes 3 weeks to check if the takedown happened correctly? this is an absolut joke
I recognize that this situation is less than ideal for you and you are looking for a resolution ASAP. This is something that only our Trust and Safety team can assist with further. Due to the sensitive nature of these types of reports, only the assigned team will be able to review any information surrounding the DMCA notices.
At this time there is nothing more that our community support team can do to resolve this situation. I recommend replying back to your most recent email from our Trust and Safety team for an update.
i wanted to retire my parents with this winning product. i tested 40 items this month.. and invested 30 hours in this store. and about 2k $ in ads and designing everything.. thanks
Hi Marcella, I’m so sorry this is happening to you. I’m currently going through the exact same thing. I made a thread on X (aka Twitter) sharing my story with these fake DMCAs. Tobi (CEO) has responded but we need more people to share their stories. This urgently needs to be fixed.
Same here as well, 0 content from them, just my original content and free rights pictures and they block my store without any evidences, It’s a real Joke !
I am actually experiencing the same thing at this very moment here it is Feb 19,2024 and the same has happen to me I left in dismayed and disappointed . My business is suffering due to this someone build my site for me I have had my theme size 2021 and today they decide to quickly take my shop. No one is helping and I don’t even know if I am am ever going to get my shop back that I have worked and paid so much money you have.