Shein comes under fire once again due to copyright violations

Fast fashion brand Shein has been served with another lawsuit after claims of alleged copyright violations.

Shein is a well-liked online store where consumers and social influencers can stock up on fashionable yet reasonably priced clothing. However, according to a recent lawsuit, Shein keeps its competitive edge by having to engage in "egregious" copyright violations that are equivalent to racketeering.

A federal court in California received a complaint from three designers who said they were "surprised" and "outraged" to see the Chinese fast-fashion retailer accurately copying and selling their products.

The lawsuit claims that the products that were copied were "truly exact copies of copyrightable graphic design" that Shein sold, not "close call" copies, where designs are interpreted loosely. In order to fulfill the demands of its millions of customers, the firm supposedly gets involved in a trend of copyright infringement by creating 6,000 new products every day. According to the claim, this is an infraction of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

According to the lawsuit, Shein is the biggest fashion retailer in the world, outpacing both H&M and Zara in terms of annual sales at almost $30 billion.

The lawsuit is just the most recent setback Shein has experienced. A dozen lawmakers from both parties asked the Securities and Exchange Commission in May to halt Shein's initial public offering until it could confirm that the company does not use forced labor from the Uyghur population, which makes up the majority of the country's Muslims.