Wrongful DMCA Takedown Notice

Technical Q&A

Topic summary

Issue: Store taken offline despite assurances from Shopify support and legal that no takedown would occur. Framed as a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown dispute related to a paid Shopify theme.

Key facts:

  • Merchant has documentation showing payment for a theme; Shopify later issued an unrequested refund.
  • The merchant cannot repurchase the theme because the system shows it as already owned.
  • Shopify Legal indicated no further action was required and the site would remain online; days later, the site was taken down.
  • Billing for the Shopify subscription continues despite the site being offline.

Support interactions:

  • Multiple chat sessions and escalations with promises to handle the issue; tickets are repeatedly closed without resolution.
  • When the merchant provided the theme invoice, support redirected them to request a “manual invoice,” sending them back into a loop with no outcome.

Requested guidance:

  • When to file a Better Business Bureau complaint and whether there are grounds for legal action.

Status: Unresolved; no concrete actions or solutions provided yet; key questions remain unanswered.

Summarized with AI on December 15. AI used: gpt-5.
1

Our website was taken down after being reassured by Shopify support that it would not be. I have all the documentation showing that they took our payment for a theme. We were later refunded for the theme without any notification or request to do so. I can not repurchase the theme because we already own it. A response for shopify legal said we needed to take no further action and our site would not be taken down. A few days later our site was taken down and we are still being charged for shopify’s service. I have gotten nowhere with the chat support, saying that the issue will be handled and the ticket has been escalated. I sent them the invoice for the theme we purchased to which they responded, “For assistance with obtaining a manual invoice from our billing team, please contact Shopify support” which I did and was sent back into this endless loop. Each time the ticket is closed without any kind of response. At what point do I file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and is this grounds for legal action?