Shein lost its copyright lawsuit against Temu in London, marking the end of the first round of the Chinese companies’ legal battle in the United Kingdom.

The case revolves around what Shein described as copyright infringement on an “industrial scale” in 2023.

What happened after was a series of twists and turns that were detailed in the court document, which included one allegation—that Temu reproduced Shein’s copyright photographs on Temu’s website—getting dropped since the web servers were located outside the U.K. and therefore outside the territorial scope of the court.

The case started with 2,600 product listings, and was ultimately narrowed down over the course of the trial to a handful product listings that the court referred to as the “Strawberry Nightdress” which were sold on an online store on Temu called “Sexy Secret.” The judge rejected Shein’s arguments.

“It follows from my conclusions above that until June 2024 Shein had a non-exclusive
licence to use the photographs of the Strawberry Nightdress, but did not have any
copyright title or rights of action in relation to those photographs,” the decision, penned by Judge Kelyn Bacon read.

“Although I infer that the trial sample photographs were viewed by users of Temu’s U.K. website, any temporary reproductions made by those users fell within” the legal exception under the U.K.’s Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988, Bacon added. “In any event, Temu did not authorise copyright infringement by users of its website.”

A Shein spokesperson insists that this is still an infringement on an industrial scale, telling Reuters that Temu “has avoided liability in the U.K. simply because the servers supporting its U.K. website happen to sit in Ireland.”

The court ruling marked the latest chapter on the legal battle between the two ultra-fast fashion e-commerce giants as they compete for a bigger slice of the global market.

Temu’s counterclaim, which alleged that Shein violated competition law through its exclusive agreements with its suppliers, is reportedly set to go to trial next year.