On July 9, a Paris court ordered Shein to stop selling clothing, jewelry, and fashion accessories bearing the Lacoste crocodile logo — not just in France, but across the entire European Union.
The preliminary injunction, issued by a specialized intellectual property chamber, found "probable infringement based on imitation" and cited a clear risk of consumer confusion. Shein was ordered to pay Lacoste provisional damages of €110,000 (approximately $125,000), and must publish the ruling on its website and mobile apps for one month. The substantive case remains ongoing, but the interim measures are immediate and EU-wide in scope.
Shein responded by saying it "takes the protection of intellectual property rights seriously" and had "cooperated with Lacoste throughout these proceedings, including by promptly removing the products at issue once notified," according to Reuters. That careful language — "once notified" — is the detail worth lingering on. The products were on the platform long enough for Lacoste to go to court. Prompt removal after a court order is not the same as preventing the listings in the first place.
This ruling arrives at a moment when ultra-fast-fashion marketplaces are under sustained pressure from multiple directions. Shein and Temu have already pulled back from Google Shopping ads in the EU after a new €3 customs levy made their ultra-cheap cross-border economics less viable. Now a French court has demonstrated that IP enforcement against these platforms can be swift, specific, and continent-wide. A single ruling in Paris now has the practical effect of a 27-country takedown order.
For smaller ecommerce sellers — particularly those who have built a brand around original product designs or distinctive trademarks — the case carries practical meaning that extends well beyond fashion.
EU-wide injunctions are a real and usable tool. The Paris court did not limit its order to French territory. It applied the injunction across the entire EU, meaning a single ruling in one member state can force a global marketplace to remove infringing products from every EU storefront. That changes the calculation for any brand weighing whether to pursue legal action. The cost of filing in one court can produce protection across 27 countries.
The "once notified" defense is wearing thin. Shein's response implied it acted as soon as it learned about the problem. But regulators and courts are increasingly skeptical of platforms that rely on brand owners to police their own trademarks, product by product, listing by listing. The EU's Digital Services Act, which now applies across the bloc, places greater responsibility on platforms to proactively identify and remove illegal content — including counterfeit goods. Waiting for a court order or a brand complaint is becoming a less tenable position.
Mandatory publication adds reputational cost. Shein must display the court's ruling on its homepage and in its mobile apps for 30 days. That is not a legal formality buried in fine print. It is a visible signal to every customer and every brand owner that the platform lost a counterfeiting case in court. For any marketplace, that kind of public notice is far more damaging than the €110,000 in provisional damages.
The $125,000 Lacoste received is a rounding error on Shein's annual revenue. But the precedent — an EU-wide injunction from a single French courtroom, with mandatory public disclosure on the platform's own homepage — is the kind of tool that gives smaller brands a fighting chance against marketplaces that have, until now, moved faster than trademark law could follow.