Dr Martens is suing the rapidly-growing Chinese marketplace Temu, accusing them of trademark infringement.
The British footwear retailer alleges that Temu engaged in paid advertising with Google to promote boots sold on its platform, targeting keywords like “Dr. Martens” and “Airwair” in specific markets.
The Times reports that this strategy effectively placed Temu’s knock off products ahead of Dr. Martens’ in search engine results.
Google’s advertising policies specify that it prohibits ads that violate trademark rights, yet the tech giant does not prevent advertisers fromusing trademarks as keywords.
Last week Dr Martens, filed the complaint in the High Court, having previously sued fast-fashion giant Shein in 2021 for what it characterised as a “clear intent to sell counterfeits.”
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Last month, Temu’s owner, PDD Holdings posted total revenues of ¥247bn (£27bn) in the full year to December 31, nearly doubling from ¥130bn (£14.2bn) in 2022 amid immense growth.
Temu said the surge was driven by an “increase in revenues from online marketing services and transaction services”, alongside strong end-of-year sales festivals in China, including Singles Day.
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