Temu wants to dismiss a lawsuit over counterfeit MF Doom merchandise brought by the late hip-hop legend’s estate, arguing in a new court filing that it’s not responsible for the actions of independent Chinese sellers who use the e-commerce site.
Gas Drawls LLC, which manages the estate of MF Doom (Daniel Dumile), filed suit in August, accusing Temu of selling dozens of knock-off t-shirts, hats, posters and other merchandise displaying the deceased rapper’s name and signature mask. Temu’s attorneys have now responded with a court filing that calls the case legally defective.
“Gas Drawls’ complaint suffers from a fundamental problem: it fails to plead any plausible facts supporting its conclusory allegation that Temu — rather than independent third-party sellers — made, sold and shipped the allegedly infringing products,” write Temu’s lawyers from the firm Knobbe Martens in the Thursday (Oct. 16) filing.
Temu’s attorneys say the company’s business model clearly leaves the selling of products to independent third parties in China. They argue that Temu is just the intermediary — and that under intellectual property law, a platform can’t be held directly liable for infringement by third-party users.
Another problem with the lawsuit, argues Temu, is that the MF Doom estate is trying to claim ownership of the deceased rapper’s likeness. But Temu says post-mortem rights of publicity do not exist in the United Kingdom, where MF Doom died in 2020.
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Temu maintains that it “takes intellectual property rights seriously” and has a robust system for users to report infringement on the site. According to the motion, MF Doom’s estate never availed itself of these procedures before resorting to litigation.
“Nonetheless, upon receiving the draft, Temu promptly investigated the matter,” write Temu’s lawyers. “Acting out of an abundance of caution and in accordance with its IP policies — not as an admission of merit to Gas Drawls’ claims — Temu removed every listing that it could identify from the poor-quality screenshots provided.”
Temu is asking a judge to dismiss all of the MF Doom estate’s claims outright. And if the lawsuit moves forward, the company wants, at the very least, to remove the estate’s “irrelevant and inflammatory” allegations that accuse it of “unethical” and “horrific” business practices.
The MF Doom estate declined to comment on the motion. But its attorney, Jeff Gluck, pointed out to Billboard that some infringing merchandise is still available on Temu despite the company’s claims to the contrary.
Gluck is also representing Twenty One Pilots in another lawsuit against Temu. Brought just days before the musical duo debuted their new album Breach atop the Billboard 200 last month, that case similarly alleged that Temu is flooding the market with cheap knockoff merch.
