Shein v Temu: High Court rules on copyright ownership in supplier and employee photographs
A five-day trial over sample product images turned largely on who owned the copyright in photographs commissioned through a chain of companies.
Judgment in Roadget Business Pte Ltd and Shein Distribution UK Ltd v Whaleco UK Limited [2026] EWHC 2165 (Ch) was handed down by Mrs Justice Bacon on 13 August 2026, after a trial in May 2026 in the Intellectual Property List.
The case ran on a set of sample works – four employee photographs and a supplier work – and the judgment devotes most of its length to copyright ownership: who commissioned each photograph, what rights transferred on commissioning, and the effect of a later framework and agency commissioning agreement. Expert evidence on PRC law and on translation was required.
Only after ownership was settled did the court turn to infringement and defences, including consent, authorising reproduction, and communication to the public.
Most copyright disputes are won or lost on paperwork about who owns the work, not on whether copying happened. That ownership argument is the expensive part – and it is exactly the kind of cost our all-other-IP section is built to absorb, whether you are the one bringing the claim or answering it.
DEFENCE UP TO £5M · PURSUIT UP TO £1M IN YEAR ONE · PURSUIT ONLY WITH DEFENCE
SOURCE: Approved judgment (PDF)
Summarised for general information only. Nothing here is legal advice or a statement of policy terms – cover is subject to underwriting and the policy wording.