Jeweller has reported extensively on ghost store scammers over the past year. These fraudsters claim to be Australian-based businesses and use a range of deceptive tactics to fool local consumers.
Earlier this month, Ryan Billington filed copyright infringement proceedings in the Federal Circuit Court in Brisbane against Shopify, and two websites he alleges copied the designs of his business, which sells posters online.
Billington's business is based in New Zealand, ships posters worldwide, including to Australia, and has submitted 45 infringement notices to Shopify regarding copycat sites prior to initiating legal action. As reported by The Guardian, court documents filed on 13 May indicate that these sites allegedly copied his work 3,929 times.
The case addresses whether global platforms can be held liable for hosting ghost stores, rather than solely targeting operators who are often outside identifiable jurisdictions. These stores operate online and frequently impersonate legitimate brands, misleading customers who may receive no goods or products of inferior quality.
On 23 April, Billington's solicitor contacted Shopify's legal team to request the removal of the infringing sites, characterising the process as frustrating. According to court documents, Shopify did not respond.
Billington stated that he provided evidence of ownership, including original source files; however, he continued to receive standard legal responses.
Both websites were taken down nine days after the lawsuit was filed and one day after the media contacted Shopify. Shopify declined to comment.
Last year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued a public warning after Guardian Australia identified more than 140 ghost stores utilising Shopify's e-commerce software.
It confirmed receipt of responses from Meta and Shopify but declined to release the correspondence due to objections from the companies.
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