Stolen artwork, no response
(1st and 2nd updated information at the bottom) Hooshops specializes in selling button up shirts with all-over graphics. Their products regularly feature artwork both from official sources, as well as fan art, which they do not have a license or permission to use. This includes at least one instance where my artwork was presented on products they sell, and another artist in my community also confirmed that some of their art was also present. I attempted to resolve the matter with Hooshops but received no response, and eventually had to go up the ladder to Shopify (which powers their shop), to have action taken. Update 1: Presumably after reading this review HooShops reached out to me (I assume it is this review and not my original DMCA removal notification I sent to them, as they referenced information in this review itself) with an email written in fairly broken English (understandable as they are likely located in China, where their website is registered). They claim that "All the pictures was (sic) provided by our suppliers." In my years of experience combating IP theft of my work, as well as that of my customers, I have found that this is a common claim from these merch sites that traffic in stolen images. While user-uploading of infringing material is often the case on many larger and more established print-on-demand sites such as Redbubble, from what I have seen many of these types of smaller shops are, themselves, the actual IP thieves. In the instances of those larger shops, they are also typically very responsive to DMCA removal notifications of infringing material. In the email HooShops also claim that "(w)e have removed the product you mentioned," which is patently false. After no response from HooShops, I escalated the matter to Shopify which their shop is platformed on. Shopify diligently removed the infringing material within 24 hours, not HooShops. As always (and has been mentioned by other reviewers) always read the 1 Star reviews first. I would strongly recommend any persons to choose more reputable shops for their clothing needs. Update 2: As noted in Update 1, despite the fact that Shopify had already disabled the item Hooshops reached out several days later stating that they disabled the item and "All the pictures was provided by our suppliers." However, a few days later, and likely after reading this review, Hooshops decided to submit a DMCA counter-notice, effectively claiming that my removal was either in error, or that I was not the IP holder of the artwork (even though it is 100% my artwork). This is a brazen escalation as most of these knock-off print-on-demand sites know not to ruffle feathers when the rightsholders to the work they've stolen submit a DMCA removal. Also, and more importantly, if Hooshops wasn't the party that uploaded my artwork, as they claim, then why would Hooshops take the initiative to submit a counter-notice? Typically that is submitted by the entity who caused the alleged infringement, NOT the 3rd party host (in this case on online webshop) who was simply fulfilling the orders.