Guides
30 guidesGuides for stores getting copied
Guides for store owners dealing with copied products, stolen photos and knockoff sellers. What to file, where to send it and what happens after.
Start here
What brand protection covers, and what to do the day you find a copy of your product.
4 guides
The impact of counterfeit products on brands: what the numbers actually say
Most of the statistics quoted on this subject trace back to one 2016 forecast or to nothing at all. We traced the ten that keep circulating, kept the ones with a method behind them, and read each one at the level of a single brand.
What is brand protection? A definition for store owners
The term defined for a merchant, not an enterprise: the assets it covers, the threats it answers, the statistics worth trusting and the fake ones, what the free routes do, and when paying makes sense.
Brand protection strategy: a plan a small brand can actually run
Why brand protection matters more when you are small, and the four pillars of a strategy you can run yourself: know your assets, watch the surfaces, enforce with evidence, and catch the relist.
Someone copied my website: what to do now
Your photos, your copy, your layout, on a domain that is not yours. The order of operations for the day you find it: save the evidence, find the host, send the notice, and handle the clone that comes back.
Reporting and takedowns
The forms and letters that remove a copied listing, store or account, and what each one asks for.
9 guides
SHEIN or Temu copied your product: where the report goes and what it gets you
Where a report about a copied product goes on SHEIN and on Temu, what proof each form takes, and why neither one asks for a registration.
When your IP report goes nowhere: what to do next
What each dead end after an Etsy, Instagram, Amazon or Shopify report means, and the next step for each.
Copyright cease and desist letter for stolen product photos: template and when it is the wrong tool
A free letter template that tells a copier to take your product photographs down by a date, and says what happens if they do not. It also says when to send something else: across 904 confirmed listings, every single copy sat on a site that runs its own copyright complaint form.
Copyright Claims Board: what a $100 claim against a copycat buys, and what happens to it
A copycat in the United States is using your product photos and you want money rather than a takedown. What the $100 claim buys, what it cannot do, and what happened to 1,987 closed cases on the public docket.
Instagram impersonation: which report actually removes a fake account copying your brand
Instagram's impersonation form asks for a photo of a person holding their ID, which a company cannot supply. Which of the trademark, copyright and counterfeit forms fits what the fake account did, what each asks for, and what filing one tells the account holder about you.
How to report a Shopify store that copied your products
Shopify has three report routes and no button for a copied store. Which form fits stolen photos, a copied name or a copied product look, what the copyright report asks for field by field, what Shopify does next, and the clock a counter notice starts.
Trademark cease and desist letter: free template and how to send one
The letter to send when somebody trades on your brand name: a copy-paste template with a version for unregistered marks, the cases where sending it is a mistake, and which lever fits which surface.
DMCA takedown notice template
The exact letter to send when another seller uses your product photos: a copy-paste template, what each field is legally doing, a filled-in example, and where to send it.
How to report copyright infringement
Where to report stolen product photos on Shopify, Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Walmart, AliExpress, Meta, TikTok and Google, what a valid notice has to contain, and what happens after you send it.
Amazon
Brand Registry, Transparency, Project Zero, and the claims that clear a hijacked listing.
5 guides
Amazon Transparency: what it costs and when it is worth it
Amazon charges $0.05 a code and nothing to enroll. The label and the hand that puts it on every unit cost more than the code. The all-in bill at 1,000 to 200,000 units a year, in two lanes, and the cases where enrolling is the wrong move.
Amazon IP Accelerator: what it costs and when to skip it
Amazon caps its vetted firms at $700 plus government fees and publishes no firm names. What the two firms that publish a rate actually charge, what filing it yourself costs, and the pending-application rule Amazon's own pages state two different ways.
Amazon Project Zero vs Transparency: which program you actually need
Transparency puts a paid code on every unit you make. Project Zero hands you a free takedown button, by invitation only. What each one costs, the 22 versus 10 country gap, and the failure modes brands report.
Amazon listing hijacking: how to remove a hijacker from your listing
Another seller is on your ASIN, undercutting you and shipping who knows what. Which of the four seller types you can actually remove, the test buy and report sequence that works, and the prevention that is real versus myth.
How to report counterfeit products on Amazon
Which of Amazon's channels removes a counterfeit, what each claim type requires, what a brand without a registered trademark can still do, and what actually happens after you file.
Trademarks, copyright and patents
Which right covers what got copied, what each one costs, and how long it takes to get.
9 guides
How long does it take to get a trademark
Half of the 2022 US applications that registered took more than 16 months, and 8% of that filing year was still waiting. An office action accounts for five and a half of those months, and three of the eight stages run on clocks you control.
Trademark attorney cost: what you pay and what it buys
Eleven published prices for the same one-class filing, the USPTO fee held separate, what the registration and publication rates say the money changes, and the five conditions under which filing it yourself is the right call.
Likelihood of confusion: the test, the factors and the odds
56.3% of the 429,192 US trademark applications filed in 2017 drew an office action, and 20.8% died because nobody answered one. The du Pont, Polaroid, Sleekcraft and Lapp factors, and what to do once you know the answer.
Common law trademark rights: what an unregistered mark lets you do against a copycat
You never registered the name and somebody is copying you. What use in commerce actually gives you, how far it reaches, which platform forms take an unregistered mark and which demand a registration number, what registration adds, and how long 6,983 use-based applicants waited before they filed.
Statement of use and intent-to-use: the deadlines, the fees, and what counts as a specimen
Your notice of allowance is a clock and a bill. Six months from the issue date, $150 per class, five extensions at $125, a filled-in example, and the specimen rules that decide whether a Shopify product page is accepted.
Trade dress examples: what the law protects when a copycat copies the look of your product
Somebody copied the look of your product without touching your photos or your logo. Ten examples with the outcome each one reached, the limits that lose cases, and which marketplace form will take the claim.
Copyright vs trademark: which one covers what got copied
Copyright covers the things you made and trademark covers the names buyers recognize you by. Which right covers a photo, a description, a name, a logo, packaging or a product shape, what each costs and takes, which marketplace form accepts which claim, and what happens when you file the wrong one.
How to copyright your product photos
Your photos are protected from the shutter click, and a takedown never needs a registration. Which of the four Copyright Office applications fits a product catalog, what each costs, why a median 1,441-photo catalog registers for $110 instead of $64,845, and the freelancer paperwork most brands are missing.
Utility patent vs design patent: which one stops a copy of your product
One covers how a product works, the other covers how it looks. The government fees at every entity size, how long each takes to grant, how often each is allowed, and why the right that removes a live listing is usually neither of them.
Vendor reviews
What the brand protection companies charge, and the brand size each one suits.
3 guides
Bustem review: what it costs and who it fits
Bustem publishes no price and every button books a call. The band its founder published, what its Stripe-verified revenue divides out to, how the homepage reads against the Terms, and who carries the risk when a takedown is disputed.
Red Points review: what it costs and who it actually fits
What Red Points charges, from the $938 a month base plan to the per-trademark and per-marketplace add-ons on its own checkout, what its two very different review populations are saying, and the brand size the pricing suits.
The best brand protection companies in 2026
Eight companies compared honestly: who publishes a price, who needs a sales call, and which fits a small Shopify brand.
