Anwen Williams, a card designer from the small town of Caernarfon in Gwynedd, Wales, has found herself at the center of a growing dispute over intellectual property rights on global online marketplaces. Williams, who creates distinctive Welsh-language cards and gifts for her business Draenog, says she has "missed out on a lot of money" after discovering that her copyrighted designs were being copied and sold without her permission on Temu, one of the world’s largest online retailers.
The issue first came to light about a year ago, in early November 2024, when Williams noticed that her original card designs—carefully crafted for a Welsh audience—were suddenly popping up on Temu. The products weren’t just similar; they were, in her words, "copied and sold without my permission." For a small business, this wasn’t just an annoyance—it was a direct threat to her livelihood. As Williams explained, "They're cards that sell well for me, so potentially I have missed out on a lot of money."
Williams took action, lodging a formal complaint with Temu. In response, the retailer introduced a new checking system for the greetings card industry, promising to speed up the process for removing copied items from its platform and to prevent them from being uploaded again. Previously, each infringement had to be reported individually—a time-consuming and often frustrating process for creators. Temu’s new system, according to the company, would allow staff to remove all products with similar designs after just one example was reported, leveraging technology to automate the process.
For a while, Williams hoped the new measures would make a difference. Temu assured Draenog that it reviewed her claim and immediately removed the related products. The company also boasted that "more than 99% of all requests are resolved within three business days—most within just 24 hours." On paper, it sounded like a win for small businesses and independent creators.
But the reality, as Williams soon discovered, was more complicated. Just this week, in the lead-up to November 2, 2025, she found her copyrighted designs appearing once again on Temu—this time on a Canadian version of the site. "I came across a card from one of my designs on Temu. They managed to take it down from what I've seen," Williams said. "But today I've come across the card again on another version of Temu, operating in Canada." The experience left her feeling exasperated and uncertain about the true scale of the problem. "So I have no idea if there are other versions of the card on sale in other countries, or even here in the UK. It is very difficult to know how long the designs have been on Temu and how many have sold exactly," she added.
The impact on her business has been more than just financial. Williams explained that the time spent tracking down and reporting infringements has been significant—time that could have been spent growing her business or creating new designs. "It's certainly cost me time, where I could be focusing on things that are a lot more important to my business, because it takes a lot of time to solve the problem," she said.
Williams’ struggle is far from unique. According to Dr. Robert Bowen, an economist at Cardiff University, issues like design copying are costing businesses millions of pounds each year. "Certainly small businesses face more challenges with this, in terms of copying designs, because they have a lot less resources, less staff, less money to be able to put into processes that can protect what is happening," Dr. Bowen said. For small firms like Draenog, the odds are stacked against them. Larger businesses may have legal teams and robust intellectual property protections in place, but for many small entrepreneurs, the resources simply aren’t there.
Joshua Miles, head of the Federation of Small Businesses Wales, echoed these concerns, calling for online platforms like Temu to do more to protect small businesses from intellectual property theft and ineffective dispute resolution. "Online platforms are now essential lifelines for many small businesses across Wales, yet problems such as intellectual property theft and ineffective dispute resolution leave businesses exposed and exploited," Miles said. "We know of businesses here in Wales who are being suffocated by a flood of counterfeit versions of their products online." His words paint a stark picture: for every legitimate sale, there may be dozens of counterfeit products siphoning off revenue and damaging a brand’s reputation.
Temu, for its part, maintains that it takes copyright infringement seriously. In a statement, the retailer said it reviewed Draenog’s claim and immediately removed the related products. The company emphasized that its new system resolves more than 99% of all requests within three business days, with most cases handled in just 24 hours. While these statistics sound impressive, the persistence of Williams’ problem suggests that even high-tech solutions can fall short in practice—especially when a platform operates across multiple countries and versions.
The story raises broader questions about the responsibilities of global online marketplaces and the challenges faced by small creators in protecting their intellectual property. With e-commerce now a critical channel for businesses of all sizes, the stakes are higher than ever. As Miles pointed out, "Online platforms are now essential lifelines for many small businesses." Yet as Williams’ experience shows, these lifelines can quickly become sources of frustration, lost revenue, and seemingly endless battles against counterfeiters.
For consumers, the issue is largely invisible. Most shoppers browsing for a quirky Welsh-language card on Temu or other marketplaces have little way of knowing whether they are buying from the original creator or a copycat. For small businesses like Draenog, that lack of transparency can be devastating. Every counterfeit sale is not just a lost pound—it’s a missed opportunity to build a customer relationship, to grow a brand, and to support the local economy.
The problem is not unique to Wales or to the greetings card industry. Across the UK and around the world, small businesses are grappling with the same issues. The rise of global e-commerce has brought unprecedented opportunities, but also new risks and vulnerabilities. As Dr. Bowen observed, "Businesses are losing millions of pounds over issues like this." And while big platforms like Temu may tout their rapid response times and advanced detection systems, the experience of creators like Williams suggests that more robust solutions—and perhaps stronger enforcement—are needed.
Williams, for her part, remains determined but weary. She continues to monitor online marketplaces for signs of infringement, even as she juggles the demands of running her small business. "It is very difficult to know how long the designs have been on Temu and how many have sold exactly," she said, summing up the uncertainty that plagues so many independent creators in the digital age.
As the fight over intellectual property rights intensifies, the voices of small business owners like Anwen Williams serve as a reminder: behind every copied design is a creator whose work—and livelihood—deserves protection.
