How to resolve trademark infringement shutdown on my online store?

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

  • Shopify shut down a merchant’s store over suspected trademark/trade dress issues tied to Disney, Harry Potter, and Marvel items. Payouts were first frozen, then the site disabled, even after the merchant uploaded supplier invoices on 11/30/23 as requested.

  • The merchant re-sent documentation, contacted Shopify Support, the Attorney General, and filed a BBB complaint. After six days, they report only generic updates, significant holiday-season revenue impact, and are considering a class action if others report similar cases.

  • Another participant suggests the shutdown may be due to a DMCA takedown (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), which hosts must act on. The merchant insists the notice was directly from Shopify and not a DMCA request.

  • Status: Unresolved/ongoing. Key open questions: whether the action was triggered by a DMCA notice vs Shopify’s internal IP enforcement, and what specific documentation or process is required to restore the store.

Summarized with AI on January 11. AI used: gpt-5.
1

My store has been shutdown by Shopify for trademark issues. They originally stopped my payouts, then eventually shut down the website even though I sent all the invoices they requested.

Here’s the story: Back on 11/30/23 I received an email from Shopify questioning the products from Disney, Harry Potter and Marvel. As requested, on 11/30/23, I immediately posted all the invoices (as requested) from the suppliers that I purchase these products from. Since then I’ve heard nothing. I’ve resent the documentation, contacted support, contacted our Attorney General and filed a complaint with the BBB. The products I sell are not illegal and this should never have gotten to this point. It is the holiday season and my family depends on our sales to eat and survive. Apparently no one at Shopify cares about that because it’s been six days and NOTHING from anyone. Just the standard, “they’re working on it.” I’m fed up! If anyone else has experienced this, please let me know. If enough of us have been scammed by Shopify and their fake “infringement” issues, I will consider filing a class action lawsuit.

3 Likes
2

It sounds like you got a DMCA takedown request filed against you. You should have received an email with those details. Are you sure it was Shopify questioning your items? Web hosting providers usually just forward those DMCA requests to you and take down your site. But they are legally obligated to: https://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf

3

It clearly came directly from Shopify and it was not a DMCA.