Another seller copied my product photos

Collect the listing and your originals

For each listing, save the listing address and its item or product number, a screenshot showing your photo in the gallery, and the seller’s name. Listings change and sellers relist under new numbers, so record the date.

From your side, keep the raw files from the shoot. A set of out-takes from the same session, with the same lighting and props, is persuasive in a way a single file is not: it shows you had the whole shoot, not just the image in the listing. Keep the date your own listing first went live.

How marketplace reports work

Marketplaces handle intellectual-property complaints through their own reporting systems rather than by email. Amazon, Etsy and eBay each run a dedicated program for rights owners, and each asks for the same core facts the DMCA does: who owns the work, which listing uses it, and statements of good faith and accuracy. Shopify stores are hosted by Shopify, which accepts copyright complaints about stores on its platform.

1. 1

   Identify each listing

   Item numbers or listing links, one per line. A listing that uses several of your photos is reported once, naming each photo.

2. 2

   Identify your original

   Link to your own listing or website where the photos appear, and describe them.

3. 3

   Make the statements

   Good-faith belief that the use is not authorized, and accuracy and authority under penalty of perjury.

4. 4

   Keep the reference

   Each report gets a case or reference number. You will need it if the seller relists.

A marketplace typically removes the listing or the images, notifies the seller and passes on the complaint, including the reporting party’s contact details. The seller may respond or file a counter-notice.

Copyright, not trademark

Marketplace reporting forms usually offer copyright, trademark and patent as separate options. Copied photos are a copyright matter. A competitor using your brand name in its title, or selling counterfeit goods, is a trademark matter with different rules and different evidence. Choosing the wrong category slows a report down and can count against you. We handle copyright only.

Your photos off the marketplace

Copied product photos often turn up beyond one marketplace: in standalone shops, in social ads, on print-on-demand sites and in comparison listings. A photo search on your key images shows where else they appear, labeled by whether each result is the identical file or a lookalike to compare.

For a standalone shop, the route is the same as for any website: find the host, then send a notice to its designated agent. See removing a photo from a website.

When a seller keeps relisting

Marketplaces must have a policy for terminating repeat infringers (§ 512(i)), and a documented history of reports against the same seller is what that policy runs on. Keep a log of every report with its date, listing number and the marketplace’s reference. If a seller is copying at volume, a conversation with a lawyer about remedies beyond removal may be worth having; registration of your photos before the infringement affects what is available (§ 412).

Making your photos easier to defend next time

• Keep every shoot together. Raw files, out-takes and the session date in one folder per product. A full set from the same session is the clearest evidence of authorship a marketplace sees.
• Write your details into the files. Most editing software can add your business name and a copyright notice to each image’s metadata on export. Some copies keep it; removing it to conceal an infringement can be separately unlawful under 17 U.S.C. § 1202.
• Get the transfer in writing. If a freelancer shoots for you, a signed agreement transferring the copyright, or at least an exclusive license, settles who can enforce it.
• Consider registration for your core catalog. It is not needed to send a notice, but it affects what is available if a dispute goes further (§ 412).