As alternative rock duo Twenty One Pilots confronts the growing issue of counterfeit merchandise, the band has publicly accused e-commerce giant Temu of facilitating the sale of unauthorized products bearing their name and logo. The Grammy-winning band, consisting of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun, claims these knockoffs notably undercut their official merchandise prices while infringing on their intellectual property rights.
Twenty One Pilots battles counterfeit merch wave, pointing fingers at Temu for selling unauthorized products that violate their IP rights.
Temu, which has experienced explosive growth since entering the U.S. market in 2022, now boasts over 186 million monthly active users nationwide. This rapid expansion has apparently come with considerable growing pains in the area of intellectual property protection. According to an investigation by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, nearly half of the products sampled on Temu were likely counterfeit, spanning multiple categories including band merchandise.
The counterfeit Twenty One Pilots items reportedly employ tactics common among Temu sellers attempting to evade detection, including slight misspellings of the band’s name in product listings while prominently displaying the official logo in product images. These unauthorized products often sell for a fraction of the price of authentic merchandise, with some t-shirts priced as low as $3.99 compared to $30-40 for official items.
This situation mirrors complaints from other creatives and brands who have found near-identical copies of their designs on Temu. Independent designers have increasingly vocalized their frustration at seeing their work reproduced without permission, often at price points impossible for legitimate businesses to match. Recent test purchases confirmed that platforms like Temu regularly sell likely counterfeits across multiple product categories, not just merchandise. For artists like Twenty One Pilots, merchandise sales represent a crucial revenue stream in today’s evolving music industry landscape. The band could potentially seek protection through performance rights organizations that help creators protect and monetize their intellectual property. The proliferation of such counterfeit merchandise from Chinese e-commerce platforms contributes to the estimated IP theft costs of up to $600 billion annually to the U.S. economy.
Twenty One Pilots joins a growing chorus of voices calling for stronger platform accountability. The band has encouraged fans to purchase only from authorized retailers and their official website, warning that counterfeit merchandise not only harms their brand but often features inferior quality materials and printing.
Temu’s parent company, Pinduoduo, which reported revenues of $9.6 billion in Q3 2023, has yet to respond specifically to the band’s accusations. Industry observers note that the platform’s business model, which prioritizes aggressive pricing and massive selection, creates structural challenges for effective intellectual property enforcement.
