Designer sues Australian Shopify over alleged ghost stores he claims copied his work 3,929 times
Summary
A young designer from New Zealand is suing Shopify in Australia because two online stores allegedly copied almost 4,000 of his poster designs. He claims Shopify did not act to remove those stores despite being notified multiple times.Key Facts
- Ryan Billington, a 20-year-old designer, filed a lawsuit in Brisbane federal court against Shopify and two websites that allegedly copied his work.
- The websites, clutchposters.com and audibleposters.com, are called "ghost stores" because they only exist online and sell fake or low-quality products.
- Billington says these ghost stores copied 3,929 of his poster designs and sold only digital files instead of real posters.
- He sent 45 infringement notices to Shopify before suing, but claims Shopify did not respond or take down the sites.
- The websites were taken down nine days after Billington filed the lawsuit.
- Shopify has not publicly commented on the case.
- The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) warned in 2023 about ghost stores using Shopify’s platform to scam customers.
- Billington provided proof of ownership, including original design files, but says Shopify replied with generic legal messages.
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