Two of dominant players in ultra-fast fashion space will now face off in a single proceeding, as an escalating battle over price, speed, and market share in the U.S. turns on competing claims of alleged intellectual property abuse and platform misconduct. A federal judge in Washington, D.C. has consolidated two closely-watched lawsuits that pit SHEIN and Temu against one another. The parallel cases involve overlapping allegations that SHEIN engaged in a “scheme” to interfere with Temu’s U.S. growth through thousands of allegedly improper takedown notices and coercive supplier practices, alongside claims that Temu facilitates the sale of counterfeit and infringing goods, misappropriates trade secrets, and copies SHEIN’s products and imagery.
In an order on April 13, Judge Timothy J. Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted Roadget Business Pte. Ltd.’s motion to consolidate, merging the related actions that pull in a number of Shein and Temu’s corporate entities. The consolidation places both sides’ competing claims on a single procedural track as the litigation moves beyond the pleadings stage and into discovery and case management.
The Background in Brief: The dispute got its start in December 2023, when Temu filed suit against Shein Technology LLC and Roadget Business Pte. Ltd. (collectively, “Shein”), centering its claims on allegations that SHEIN deployed thousands of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) takedown notices to remove competing listings from its platform. The complaint also points to alleged coercive supplier practices, misuse of intellectual property rights, and misrepresentations to the U.S. Copyright Office.
SHEIN responded in August 2024 with a lawsuit, accusing Temu entities PDD Holdings and WhaleCo (collectively, “Temu”) of operating as more than a passive marketplace and exercising control over sellers, pricing, and listings while facilitating the sale of counterfeit and infringing goods. The filing further includes allegations of trade secret misappropriation and copying of SHEIN products and imagery in connection with Temu’s U.S. operations.
The Clash of Two Titans
The consolidation follows a series of rulings that have already reshaped the case, narrowing its scope and sharpening the parties’ competing legal theories. In Temu’s case, Judge Kelly denied its motion for a preliminary injunction in February 2025, rejecting its request to restrict SHEIN’s use of DMCA takedown notices. The case was further pared back in September 2025, when the court dismissed Temu’s trade secret and antitrust claims while allowing other claims to proceed, including those tied to alleged misuse of the DMCA framework, copyright and trade dress infringement, fraud on the U.S. Copyright Office, and unfair competition.
In SHEIN’s later-filed suit, a January 2026 order dismissed Temu’s parent company PDD Holdings as a defendant for lack of personal jurisdiction and granted in part and denied in part Temu’s motion to dismiss, allowing several of SHEIN’s core intellectual property and unfair competition claims to proceed, while dismissing others, including product disparagement and trademark dilution.
THE BOTTOM LINE: As it stands, the consolidated litigation reflects a high-stakes clash between two ultra-fast fashion giants, each accusing the other of unlawful conduct in connection with its efforts to expand in the U.S. market. Temu claims that SHEIN weaponized copyright enforcement tools and leveraged its supplier network to choke off competition, while SHEIN counters that Temu’s rapid rise has been fueled by the systematic sale of infringing goods and the misuse of proprietary data.
With earlier rulings narrowing both the claims and the parties, the case now tees up a more focused dispute – one that brings the parties’ competing theories of liability into direct conflict, particularly as they relate to the use of intellectual property enforcement and platform control as competitive tools.
The cases are Roadget Business PTE v. Whaleco, Inc., 1:24-cv-02402 (D. DC.) and Whaleco Inc. v. Shein Technology LLC, 1:23-cv-03706 (D. DC.).
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