Ryan Billington, who runs an online poster store, accuses two online stores of stealing his designs 3,929 times. According to the lawsuit, the copies have delivered digital files to customers instead of physical posters. After Billington submitted 45 infringement notices to Shopify without the platform taking action, he chose to take the case to court.
The designer tells The Guardian that his work has been “systematically copied” and sold “on a massive scale”. Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, the two online stores in question were shut down.
The legal case highlights the broader problem of “ghost stores” within e-commerce. These stores exist only digitally and often pose as local brands. In several cases, they promote temporary sales but actually deliver either low-quality goods or no goods at all from abroad.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has warned about the business model over the past year and received over 700 complaints related to suspected ghost stores. The ACCC has also contacted Meta and Shopify demanding that they take action against unscrupulous actors on their platforms.
Catriona Lowe, Deputy Chair of the ACCC, previously stated about the development:
There is no doubt that these stores are becoming more sophisticated, she stated, adding:
It is becoming more difficult for consumers to distinguish a legitimate site from a fraudulent one.
Since the operators behind the stores rarely reside in the country they claim to operate in, it is complicated for consumers to exercise their rights or obtain refunds. Stephen Nowicki, Legal Director at Consumer Action Law Centre, summarizes the situation for affected customers when they discover they have shopped from a ghost store abroad:
There is very little you can do.