I was sitting at my desk watching the cameras, with my life slightly passing me by. I kept revamping my shop over and over. "TikyToks, maybe more ECW VHS commercials." I'm still not sure what works right now. Apparently, neither did the websites that I discovered stole my Jhea Waffle House design on August 13th into the wee hours of the morning, and August 14th (while I was making this blog).
Repeatedly searching my shop on Google has become tradition to ensure any changes I make, or pages I add index in a timely manner. Usually I search with my URL, but for some reason, I searched "jhea tees," in Google images, and to my surprise, and complete anger, I found my design on AI people wearing t-shirts and sweatshirts, on mugs, and a poster. The website was TeeWorksUSA. No contact information easy on the eyes, in the Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Contact page, or About Us section, which is legally required for businesses to have for consumer questions.
One of the great assets of having a shop hosted on Shopify is their merchant assistant Sidekick, which is considered AI. I generally loathe the idea of AI, and AI period, such as AI art, AI in music, film, and anything creative, but Sidekick is my one exception. I'm not a legal head, but I make a good detective when the time is right, and with my Sidekick, I laid out a systematic approach to handling copyright infringement, protecting intellectual property.
For my designers whose artwork has been stolen for profit without notice, and a shopper who's looking for authentic merch, but in this instance, wrestling merch. The first red flag is clear; if you can't find contact information, flee.
Step One
Find out who hosts the infringing website.
- Go to WHOIS Search, Domain Name, Website, and IP Tools - Who.is and search the website, in my case it was TeeWorksUSA.
- Look for the hosting provider & the name registrar
The hosting provider for them was under the name servers, which was Cloudflare.
Step Two
File the DMCA with the hosting company either by email or online form under copyright infringement information
- Contact details
- Provide the infringing URL(s) or the link of the website that stole your artwork
- Provide link(s) to original artwork; website, social media, anything that shows the artwork belongs to you
- Describe your artwork in detail
- Description of the infringement
- Good faith statement
- Sign the form and submit
I received an email confirming the submission from Cloudfare. In general, the hosting provider will forward the DMCA notice to the website owner first, but the hosting provider, in this case Cloudfare can take down the actual website content.
Step Three
File with Google’s DMCA reporting site. Sign into your Gmail account, and you’ll be taken to Google’s content removal dashboard to report copyright infringement.
Google can:
- Remove the infringing site from Google search results
- Remove images from Google Images search
- Remove search results despite the site functioning
- Protects brand from people finding stolen content
Google is typically faster than hosting companies, so filing with them is an effective method in this process. They'll review the DMCA notice, and if approved, they'll remove the infringing URL from Google search results. So when searching for the “Holla At Ya Uce” tee, the stolen content won't show up when people search for it.
Step Four
Cease and Desist. I wanted to do more digging about TeeWorksUSA, especially if I was going to send a cease and desist, so I checked Twitter to see what I’d find. Fortunately, they included a residential address, and I started drafting the cease and desist order.
CEASE AND DESIST LETTER
[Your Name] [Your Address] [City, State, ZIP] [Your Email] [Your Phone]
[Date]
[Name of Company] [Their Residential or Commercial Address] [ZIP code]
RE: COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT - DEMAND FOR IMMEDIATE CESSATION
Dear Sir/Madam:
I am the owner of copyrighted artwork being used without authorization on your website. Specifically, you are selling a product titled [Name of product(s) stolen] that features my copyrighted [Description].
Copyright Ownership: This artwork is featured on my legitimate product at: [URL where artwork can be found]
Infringement: Your unauthorized use appears at [Their Website URL]
DEMAND: You must immediately:
- Remove all infringing content from your website
- Cease all sales of products using my copyrighted artwork
- Provide written confirmation of compliance within 10 business days
Notice: [Steps taken for DMCA takedown notices] Continued infringement may result in legal action seeking damages, attorney fees, and injunctive relief.
This letter serves as formal notice under 17 U.S.C. § 512(c).
Sincerely, [Your signature] [Your printed name]
Mailing USPS’s certified mail was what I originally planned, but emailing is perfect, and how I sent these cease and desist letters that I have.
Step Five
Hit them where it hurts. I filed copyright infringement forms with the payment processors on the website. Usually found at the footer head of an e-commerce website, the easiest companies to file with if it’s one of their payment methods are PayPal, Visa, and Stripe. After completing the copyright form, draft the email, and attach the document. PayPal is the optimal option due to their swift response, can freeze accounts, and stop payment processing.
Cloudfare responded, forwarded the email to the hosting provider, and provided the hosting provider information, to which I sent them the DMCA notice, and copied Cloudfare.
Through Twitter, I found other designers who had their artwork, design, illustrations stolen on TeeWorksUSA’s website, and one of them provided contact details. I finally found the email, which saved me time and money. I attached the cease and desist, included the links of my original artwork, their infringing URL, dated my DMCA takedown notices, and ended the email amicably if they complied.
Less than 8 hours later, the Google search results were removed, and the product page was taken down.
Success. Until more thieves arose either with the same product title as TeeWorksUSA or a reimagined title to keep a low pro. TrendTeeShirts would be a much tougher, and longer process, still ongoing. To TeeWorksUSA’s credit, they compiled immediately, but they shouldn’t have stolen a design to place on their website in the first place.
TrendTeeShirts was an entirely different beast with built in illegal tactics around evading copyright enforcement.
Red Flags:
- Hosted by Virtual Systems LLC in Ukraine - a company that explicitly advertises "DMCA-ignored" services and is currently facing lawsuits for refusing DMCA takedown requests
- Fake business credentials: fraudulent BBB accreditation, fake Norton security seals, and a Miami address that actually belonged to a logistics and transportation company, but the verdict is still out on that one.
- Payment processor diversification: accepted every major card network through Stripe
Since emailing Virtual Systems LLC wouldn’t matter, which means TrendTeeShirts wouldn’t comply because they think it’ll protect or embolden them from not complying, I ramped up the pressure. Google took down the search results, so I had to hit them in their pockets.
I filed simultaneous complaints with:
- Stripe (their actual processor)
- Visa, MasterCard, American Express, (all accepted on their checkout), Discover (their customer service is the worst)
- PayPal, the GOAT (successfully removed less than 24 hours)
I’m waiting for replies from all the companies, and hopefully TrendTeeShirts will bleed dry because they messed with the right and wrong one. If it’s one thing I despise, it’s when people don’t properly credit artists when reposting their work on social media, a simple pet peeve, but it’s when these sites blatantly sell designer’s works, and think they won’t get caught or held accountable. Naturally, they don’t, which is why they continue, but here’s hoping this blog will give designers who’ve fallen victim to artwork theft the systematic approach to getting their work taken down. As far as monetary loss, consult with a copyright or trademark lawyer to get those coins back. You do not need to have registered with your artwork with the U.S. Copyright office to sue for copyright infringement, registry just makes your claims iron clad.
TikTok Shop is another platform that hosts artwork theft.
If you shop on TikTok, especially for wrestling t-shirts, or merchandise in general, please ensure the artwork owner on Twitter or Instagram first. Searching the image on Google Images will likely give you the answer, or simply asking. There’s many sellers offering the same design, which means it’s stolen. Inform The Artist. Legal action or DMCA takedown notices can be filed by the artist when they're aware their designs are being used without their authorization. DTF is the easiest method to print a design taken from social media than going to a screenprinter or printer that specializes in DTG, or print on demand sites.
For the shoppers: avoid TeeWorksUSA, Fanaticity, Poseidon Tee, Dalat Shirt, Tee Bulletin, and TeesMyUSA (I discovered they stole on August 21st), TrendTeeShirts, TikTok Shop, and any site that uses those lazy shirts to create mockups with bot descriptions for products that aren’t theirs. If you see "Legal - DMCA" that is a dead giveaway they steal designs. No reputable e-commerce business is going to have that.
TikTok Shop Thiefs
Stolen from MSC Edits (@MSC880)
“YEET ⛓️😈” reposted by Jey on IG Stories (Sep. 9th)
Thieves: Urban Moon Wear | Sharaon Booce Shop | Rishon Blacke
“😈🙌🏽⛓️”
Thieves: Red Duck Tee | Triple Double Sports | BlissNestHub312 | DavisMichaelse
“YEET 💥”
Thieves: April Bramer | hoangmduongk | Regainald Aalford Shop | SFE Store | COAST TECHI
Main Event Jey Uso is now in your city 🎶”
Thieves: GHEJ SKER | GOLDEN STATE GEAR | Sarah Farmer
Thieves: Otis Streetwear Clothing | Marie Delanux LLC
Thieves: Fashion clothing quality store | Terisinaa Canadye Shop | Makinzy Shop | RIOTCLUB | VibeNest Fashion | Chrinna Shop | Suplex Lab | MoonmereKG
Stolen from Kupy Wrestling Wallpapers
Thieves: Joae Bartlaette Shop | JENNIFERA WARD | Marcusa Carter Shop | MARTIAL ARTS STORE USA | BATESNATASHADANETTA | Chrisa Archere Shop
Stolen from Christian Heard (@King Ocho3X)
Thief: David Lacroix
Stolen from Breezythaboy
Thieves: WWE4U | DT Motionwear Shop
Stolen from RB Creative (@rbcre4tive)
Thieves: Axel Vintage Clothing | AndrosWear l PRISCILLA ARIAS
For the designers: Document everything; design process with timestamps, bookmark social media posts of your artwork, if it’s work-for-hire, document that process, and watermark your designs large enough that the illustration/design can’t be used. Before watermarking, the Waffle House illustration had my brand name next to the quote, which strengthened my litigation pursuit if it goes that far. These scammers don’t check anything, so make sure you protect everything. It’s a shame, but unfortunately, that’s the game.
Update as of 02/28
My designs no longer are on infringing sites, but one remains. I worked to get my designs that have been stolen previously officially registered with the United States Copyright Office, and the certificates are coming soon. So, if anyone wants to F.A.F.O, statutory damages up to $150,000 awaits.
Do not online shop at Tee Works USA, Fanaticity now known as Tees Local, Trend Tee Shirts aka King Merch Store, TeesMyUSA aka Tee Bulletin, Dalat Shirt, Poseidon Tee, Design At Shop, PodXmas Clothing, Tee Hand US Store, and Album Cover Print aka KTB Tee. And if you're a designer, I'd recommend blocking them on any social media platform you have just in case.
And if a website has a DMCA tab, they're thieves, and they know it. No reputable site that makes their own merch has that.
My Jhea "Holla At Ya Uce" Waffle House t-shirt has been stolen ten times? I lost count after September, but the block is hot, and apparently, so is the tee. Get it while it lasts.
Signed,
Your Friendly Neighborhood Authentic Jhea Shop