Twenty One Pilots Sues Temu Over Knockoff Merchandise: ‘Blatant Copies’

Twenty One Pilots is suing the Chinese e-commerce giant Temu over allegations that the “unethical” company is flooding the market with cheap knockoffs of the band’s merchandise.

The “Stressed Out” duo, set to release its eighth studio album later this week, says the site is a “veritable swamp of infringing and otherwise illegal products,” including many that are “blatant copies” of its merch.

“Temu is widely understood to be one of the most unethical companies operating in today’s global marketplace,” the band’s lawyers wrote in a complaint obtained by Billboard. “Instead of policing its products to guard against infringement, it chooses to profit from sales of such products, in disregard of artist and brand rights.”

Temu, which means “Team Up, Price Down,” is an online marketplace that boomed in 2024 by selling low-priced goods directly to American consumers. But Twenty One Pilots (composed of singer Tyler Joseph and drummer Josh Dun) says many of those goods are fakes that violate U.S. intellectual property.

The lawsuit includes dozens of photos of t-shirts, mugs, posters and other allegedly counterfeit products. In one, an exact replica of a $35 t-shirt that features the two stars standing back to back, is shown on Temu at the price of just $7.54.

“Temu’s pattern of flouting the law and attempting to exploit the hard work and creativity of others without consent is manifest in the claims at issue here,” the band’s lawyers wrote.

Artists are increasingly using legal measures to crack down on counterfeit merch. Last month, Benson Boone and Tate McRae’s merchandise partners each filed separate lawsuits over fake gear sold outside their concerts. Before that, Nirvana, Harry Styles, Rod Wave and many others had filed similar cases.

But such cases can be tricky: In late 2023, Luke Combs accidentally sued a superfan who was selling decorative tumblers and quickly won a $250,000 judgment against her. After the story went viral, he apologized to her and forgave the huge debt.

Other artists have chosen to target major online platforms that allegedly facilitate such sales. Monday’s case was filed by the same lawyers who filed a similar case against Temu last month on behalf of the estate of MF Doom, leveling many of the same accusations. That lawsuit remains pending.

Like that earlier case, Twenty One Pilots’ new allegations reach well beyond intellectual property by including claims that the company sells the products of forced labor, has aided the Chinese Communist Party and has sold toxic lead products.

The suit also claims Temu has sold goods tied to “homophobia, inciting violence, and violent criminal gang activity,” featuring an image of a shirt purportedly promoting the gang MS-13 and another that reads, “I’m Violently Homophobic.”

“The above are two representative examples of the type of product Temu markets and sells and reflect only the tip of the iceberg,” Twenty One Pilots’ lawsuit says.