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What to do when someone copies your brand online?

Branddi · Published on · Updated on

What to do when someone copies your brand online?

Preserve the evidence before doing anything else, identify what kind of copy you are dealing with, and file through the official intellectual property channel of the platform hosting it. In Brazil, since June 2025, an extrajudicial notice is enough to hold a platform liable if it ignores your request — a court order is no longer required in most cases.

There is only one mistake that costs you dearly at the start: confronting whoever copied you before securing evidence. Everything else — notifying, reporting, escalating — has a correct order and a correct channel, and picking the wrong channel costs weeks.

What kind of copy is it?

Classify before you report. Each type of copy is resolved in a different place, under a different legal basis, and a report filed through the wrong channel usually comes back denied.

That last row causes the most confusion. When someone takes your product photos and builds a listing with them, the violation is copyright, not trademark. It sounds like a technicality, but it changes the form you file, the team reviewing it on the other side and how fast you get an answer.

What should you do in the first 24 hours?

Step 1. Capture the evidence before you report. Full URL, screenshot with a visible date, WHOIS record if it is a domain, and a saved copy of the page. Evidence evaporates: the scammer edits the profile, the site goes down, the ad gets paused. People who report first and capture later usually end up with neither.

Step 2. Do not contact whoever copied you. The message tells them you noticed. The standard response is to delete everything and reopen under a different name the next day — and now you have lost both the evidence and the trail.

Step 3. Brief your support team. If there is a fake profile or a cloned site, your customer will complain to you, not to the scammer. A two-line internal heads-up keeps the team from treating it as an ordinary complaint.

Step 4. File through the official intellectual property channel — not the generic "report" button in the app. The generic button sends your case to community moderation, which assesses whether the content breaks the community guidelines. The IP channel sends it to the team that reviews trademark ownership. Same complaint, two destinations, wildly different success rates.

Do you need a registered trademark?

To monitor, no. To remove, almost always yes.

Platforms require proof of ownership to accept an intellectual property complaint — usually a registration number from the relevant trademark office. Without one, you are left with weaker arguments such as misuse of likeness or unfair competition, which are assessed case by case.

Criminal enforcement is stricter still. In Brazil, articles 189 and 190 of the Industrial Property Law require a valid, active registration. An unregistered mark will not sustain a criminal complaint for trademark infringement.

If your brand is not registered yet, that is the first move — and it is worth understanding how registration works before taking any other action.

What changed with Brazil's Supreme Court ruling in 2025?

A great deal, and in favour of brand owners.

On 26 June 2025, Brazil's Supreme Court ruled on appeals RE 1,037,396 and RE 1,057,258 and declared article 19 of the Internet Civil Framework partially unconstitutional. Until then, a platform was only liable if it disobeyed a specific court order — which in practice meant litigating before any serious conversation.

What applies now:

One detail rarely mentioned that says a lot: the underlying case in RE 1,037,396 was precisely a fake Facebook profile. The court upheld the decision ordering the profile removed and damages paid.

The practical consequence for a brand owner is direct: a well-prepared extrajudicial notice stopped being a formality and became the act that shifts risk onto the platform.

Which is the right channel on each platform?

Note that none of these pages promises a turnaround time. They describe where the complaint goes in, not how quickly it comes out.

What if the platform denies your complaint?

A denial on the first attempt is common, not the end of the road. Three routes, in this order:

Change the legal basis. If the trademark claim was denied, a copyright claim over the photos or the text of the listing often succeeds — it changes the grounds and the team reviewing it.

Go up a level. A fake site does not live on the platform alone: it has a domain registrar and a hosting provider, and both accept abuse reports. That is usually the fastest way to take a clone offline, and it is covered in the guide on how to report a fake website.

Notify formally. This is where the Supreme Court ruling carries weight: a documented extrajudicial notice, ignored by the platform, builds its civil liability.

How long does this take?

There is no single answer, and be suspicious of anyone who gives you one. None of the major platforms publishes an official removal deadline — what they publish is the intake channel.

Real turnaround varies by platform, by claim type and, above all, by the quality of the evidence attached. A complaint with complete proof and a registration number moves; a complaint with a screenshot pasted into an email body usually stops at first triage.

Is a criminal case worth it?

It depends on the scale of the damage, but there is a deadline almost nobody knows about that changes how urgent the decision is.

Reproducing or imitating a registered trademark without authorisation is a crime in Brazil, punishable by three months to one year of detention or a fine (article 189). Selling or holding stock of goods bearing a counterfeit mark is too (article 190).

The critical point: these crimes are prosecuted by private criminal complaint (article 199 of the same law). And that complaint carries a six-month limitation period counted from the day you learn who the perpetrator is. Miss it and the right to prosecute is extinguished, no matter how blatant the infringement.

In other words, identifying the party responsible starts a clock. Record the date you found out and talk to a lawyer within that window, even if the final decision is not to prosecute.

How do you stop it from coming back?

This is the part almost everyone skips, and where the problem actually lives.

Removing a fake profile does not solve the problem — it solves that profile. The same actor tends to return within hours under another account, sometimes with identical copy. If you measure success by content removed, you will celebrate removals while the number of clones holds steady.

What changes the game is looking at it by infringer, not by URL: identifying the pattern behind repeat offenders, continuously monitoring the channels where your brand circulates, and re-notifying without starting from scratch each time. It is the difference between putting out fires and reducing the chance of fire, and it is the criterion that separates vendors when you evaluate hiring outside help.

If you want the full mechanics of removal, the digital takedown guide walks through each stage.

Frequently asked questions

Does a screenshot count as evidence?

It counts as an indication, and it beats nothing — as long as it shows the full URL and the date. For cases that may end up in court, a notarised record carries far more weight, because a third party with public authority attests to what was online at that moment.

Can I file a complaint without a registered trademark?

You can file, but your odds drop considerably. Most platforms require a registration number to accept a trademark claim. Without one, you are left with misuse of likeness and unfair competition, which are slower and less predictable.

Should I warn my customers there is a scam using my brand?

Yes, and the sooner the better. Silence does not protect reputation — a customer who falls for the scam will associate the loss with your brand either way. A clear notice on your official channels reduces victims and shows the brand is paying attention.

How long do I have to act?

For removal there is no legal deadline, but earlier is better: evidence degrades and damage accumulates. For the criminal route the deadline is rigid — six months from the moment you identify who is responsible.

If your brand is being copied on more than one channel at the same time, the problem stopped being isolated and became an operation. That is exactly what Branddi's complete protection handles: continuous monitoring, removal backed by evidence and tracking of repeat offenders.

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