Shopify has settled its federal copyright lawsuit accusing rival e-commerce platform Shopline of copying software used to build online storefronts. In a joint filing in Manhattan federal court, the companies asked the judge to bar Shopline from distributing the disputed software. Other terms of the settlement were not disclosed, Reuters reported.
Shopify sued in 2024, alleging that Shopline copied its Dawn storefront template to power a competing product called Seed. Shopify said Dawn forms the backbone of how an e-commerce site looks and functions and accused Shopline of reproducing the template “wholesale.”
Shopline denied the allegations. The company argued that Dawn was not eligible for copyright protection because it relied on technologies that are publicly available, widely known, and commonly used across the web.
“Shopline copied our Dawn theme, rebranded it, and sold it against us,” Shopify General Counsel Jean Niehaus said. “We took them to court and they’ve been ordered to stop and to pay us.”
Shopline is a subsidiary of Singapore-based technology company JOYY, which acquired the business in 2022. Representatives for Shopline did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati represented Shopify. Lippes Mathias represented Shopline in the case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
