Shopify sues rival for copyright infringement over e-commerce platform

JOYY

14/05/2024 19:06

By Blake Brittain
       May 14 (Reuters) - Canadian e-commerce provider Shopify
 SHOP.TO  sued a subsidiary of Chinese technology company JOYY
Inc  YY.O  in New York federal court on Tuesday, accusing it of
illegally copying Shopify's software to build its own e-commerce
platform.
    Shopify said in the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of New York, that JOYY's
Shopline created a "thinly disguised knockoff" of its Dawn
storefront-template technology to power competing e-commerce
services.
    Representatives for JOYY did not immediately respond to a
request for comment. A Shopify spokesperson said in a statement
that the company had "taken aggressive legal action against
Shopline to uphold the integrity of Shopify's products."
    JOYY, which is headquartered in Singapore and focuses on
social-media technology, acquired Shopline in 2022. Shopline
announced in March that it would expand its business into the
United States.
    Shopify said its Dawn software "forms the backbone of the
way an e-commerce site appears and functions." It told the court
on Tuesday that Shopline's Seed software copies Shopify's Dawn
software "wholesale."
    "From the highest level of overarching organization to the
smallest level of individual lines of code, the evidence of
Shopline's copying is overwhelming," Shopify said, which also
allegedly includes "large swaths" of matching filenames and
other elements.
    Shopify also told the court that merchants using Shopline's
software violate its rights. Shopify asked the court for an
unspecified amount of money damages and a court order blocking
the alleged infringement.

    The case is Shopify Inc v. Shopline Technology Holdings Pte
Ltd, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York,
No. 1:24-cv-03691.
    For Shopify: Jeremy Auster of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich &
Rosati
    For Shopline: attorney information not immediately available

 (Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington)
 ((blake.brittain@tr.com;))