Someone is selling merch or bootleg copies of your game. How to get it removed.

You search your game's name on a print-on-demand site to see if anyone made fan art, and you find your key art on a T-shirt. Not a drawing inspired by it: your file, cropped, on a shirt, a sticker, a phone case and a poster, under a seller name you have never heard of. Or a player sends you a photo of a cartridge with your game's title on the label, bought from a marketplace for a few dollars.

A game we shipped was taken apart, rebuilt and sold by someone else, so we know the specific feeling of seeing your work for sale with someone else collecting the money. Merch is a strange version of it, because it can feel petty to mind and it is still your work. You are allowed to mind. This page covers how to decide what to act on, what to save, where each of the big marketplaces takes reports and what each one asks for, what happens to your name and email when you report, bootleg physical copies, why the same design keeps coming back, and what to set up so the next report takes five minutes. It is not legal advice, and the places where a lawyer is worth paying are marked.

1. Decide what you want to stop

Not everything with your game on it is a copy. Before you report anything, sort what you found, because the answer changes which right you rely on and whether you want to act at all.

Our view on fan art: decide once, write it down, and apply it the same way every time. Many developers leave fan drawings alone and report only copies of their own files and logo. Others ask fans not to sell anything. Either is defensible. What causes trouble is reporting one fan and ignoring another, because fans compare notes, and a public policy gives both you and them something to point to.

2. Save the evidence first

Listings disappear once a seller notices a report, and some reappear under a new name. A few minutes of saving now is what lets you report the next copy quickly.

• Every listing address. Each product is usually its own listing. A design on twelve products is twelve addresses.
• The seller's shop or profile address. You will need it to ask for action on the account, and to recognize the same seller later.
• Dated screenshots. Each listing with the price, the seller name and the product preview visible. Include the search you used to find it.
• Your original. The source file, where you first published it, and the date. A link to your store page or press kit where the same image appears is usually enough to show it is yours.
• A side-by-side. Your image next to the product preview. For a crop or recolor, this one picture does more than a paragraph.

Do not buy the product to prove it exists. The listing is the infringement you are reporting, and buying one sends the seller money.

3. Where each marketplace takes reports

Each site runs its own process. The table lists the channel each one names on its own policy page and the details worth knowing before you file. Most follow the U.S. notice format described in the first page in this journal, what a valid notice contains: who you are, what work is yours, where the copy is, and two sworn statements.

Smaller print-on-demand sites almost all publish a copyright or intellectual property page, usually linked in the footer, with an email address or form. If a site has none, the company that hosts it is the next step; the page on pirate download sites covers reaching a host.

4. How to write the report so it sticks

Marketplaces process large volumes of these, and a report that is easy to verify gets acted on faster. Our advice, based on what the policies above ask for:

• Name the work precisely. "The key art for [game], first published on [store page] on [date]," not "my game's art."
• Give every address. Each listing, then the shop. Do not make the reviewer search.
• Say it is a direct copy. If the product uses your file, say so and attach the side-by-side. Direct copies are the easiest decision a reviewer makes.
• Ask about the account. If the shop sells copies of several games or brands, say so and ask the site to review the account under its repeat-infringer policy. Etsy says it "terminates selling privileges" of members subject to repeat notices in appropriate circumstances, and its policy applies to accounts it believes are linked to the same member.
• Report only what is yours. The notice is a statement made under penalty of perjury. If a shop also sells fan drawings you have decided to allow, leave them out.

5. What happens after you report

On a valid notice, the listings usually come down and the seller is told why. From there, three things can happen.

• Nothing more. Most sellers of copied designs do not respond. The listings stay down.
• A counter-notice. The seller swears the listing was removed by mistake. Etsy says that for U.S. copyright reports it may restore the listing 10 business days after the counter notice is processed unless you tell it you have filed in court or with the Copyright Claims Board. Redbubble says it may reinstate work if the complainant has not "taken legal action" after 14 days. A counter-notice from a seller of a direct copy is rare, and it is the point to talk to a lawyer. The page on counter-notices explains what the other side has sworn.
• The same design, back again. Covered in section 7.

Keep a simple record of every report: date, site, listing addresses and result. It costs nothing, it makes repeat reports faster, and it matters if things escalate. In the Atari case against Redbubble in 2021, the jury found Redbubble not liable; the marketplace's defense included evidence that Atari had complained only once, in 2011, before suing in 2018. The same summary notes that Redbubble lost a separate trial that year to a clothing brand that argued the site had not done enough after being notified. Our reading: what you reported, and when, is part of the record in any later dispute with a marketplace.

6. Bootleg cartridges and physical copies

Games for older consoles, homebrew titles and small PC games turn up as physical bootlegs: cartridges, discs or USB sticks with printed labels, sold on marketplaces for a few dollars. One NES developer found an AliExpress store selling their free games on cartridges for "around $16", and noted they wished the labels had been printed in the right colors.

The same reporting routes apply. The listing on AliExpress, eBay or Amazon is the thing to report, and the work you name is the game itself. A few differences from merch:

• Players are buying a product you do not stand behind. If the bootleg is broken or an old version, buyers may blame you. A short public note saying you have not released a physical edition, or naming the only official one, helps.
• Free games are still yours. Releasing a game for free does not give anyone the right to sell copies of it, unless the license you released it under says otherwise. Check what license you chose before you report.
• Imports into the United States. U.S. Customs and Border Protection can detain and seize goods at the border that infringe a trademark or copyright you have registered and then recorded with it. Recording costs $190 per copyright or per trademark class. It is a tool for a game with a steady flow of bootleg imports, not for one listing, and it needs a registration first (for copyright, CBP also accepts evidence of a pending application); the registration guide covers that.

If you do want physical copies to exist, the strongest answer to a bootleg can be an official edition, even a small one. That is a business choice, not a legal one, and it is yours to make.

7. Why the same design keeps coming back

Print-on-demand makes a copy cheap: a seller uploads one image and the site offers it on every product. Removing one shop does not remove the file from the seller's computer, and the same image can appear under a new account, or on another site, days later. That is frustrating, and it is normal. It does not mean your reports failed.

Our advice for keeping it manageable:

• Search on a schedule, not constantly. Once a month, search each site for your game's name and run a reverse image search on your key art and logo. Copies that change the title still use your picture.
• Keep your report text ready. Your name, address, the description of each work, its first publication and the sworn statements do not change. Only the listing addresses do.
• Use the site's account tools. Some sites keep a rights holder's details on file after the first report: Alibaba's platform, for example, says verified documents are saved for later use. Others, like eBay, let you publish a profile describing what you own.
• Report the pattern. If the same image keeps returning from new accounts, say so in the report and include the earlier addresses. A site can only connect accounts it knows about.

8. Do you need to register anything?

For most of these reports, no. Copyright exists from the moment you made the art, and the sites above accept notices from owners of unregistered work. Registration becomes important in three places: suing in the United States over a U.S. work, using border enforcement, and some marketplace programs. Amazon's Brand Registry needs a registered or pending trademark, and Alibaba's platform accepts either a certificate or its own statement for unregistered copyright.

A trademark registration for your game name covers the goods and services you list in it. Clothing, posters, stickers and mugs are classified separately from games, so whether a registration for the game reaches shirts is a question about confusion, not a box you tick. If merch with your name on it is becoming a real business for someone else, or you plan official merch yourself, this is a good moment to talk to a trademark lawyer. The section on classes in the trademark guide explains how classes work.

9. If you want fans to make merch

Some developers would rather fans could sell their own designs, with or without a cut. You are allowed to want that. Say it publicly, say what is allowed (original drawings, not your files or logo), and say whether there is a limit, such as no selling on the same sites as your official store. A clear policy makes it easier to report the copies, because it shows the line you are applying was there before the copy was. If you open an official store, link it from your game's page so players can tell the real one from the rest.

Common questions

Someone is selling T-shirts with my game's art on Redbubble. How do I get them removed?

Use Redbubble's Notice and Takedown Report form. List every listing address, name the original art and where you published it, and include the sworn statements its policy requires. Ask for the account to be reviewed if it sells other copied work.

Do I need a registered copyright to report merch on Etsy or Redbubble?

No. Their policies ask for a description of your work and sworn statements, not a registration number. Amazon's Brand Registry is the exception, and it needs a registered or pending trademark.

Will the seller see my name and email?

Possibly. Etsy and TeePublic both say they may share the reporting party's contact details with the seller. Use a business address and email you are comfortable with.

Should I report fan art of my characters?

That is your choice. Fan drawings are different from copies of your files. Decide on a policy, publish it, and apply it the same way to everyone.

Someone is selling bootleg cartridges of my game on AliExpress. What can I do?

Register with Alibaba's Intellectual Property Protection Platform, which covers AliExpress, and report the listings. You will need proof of identity and either a registration certificate or its statement for unregistered copyright.

The same design keeps coming back under new accounts. Is it worth reporting again?

Yes, and say in the report that it is a repeat, with the earlier addresses. Sites act on accounts they can connect. Keep your report text ready so each one takes minutes.

Do I need a lawyer?

Not to report listings. A lawyer is worth it if a seller counter-notices, if someone is running a real business on your name, if you want money back, or if you are planning official merch and a trademark for it.

This page describes Redbubble's intellectual property and publicity rights policy (updated 21 June 2023); Etsy's intellectual property policy (published 15 June 2023); TeePublic's intellectual property policy; eBay's Verified Rights Owner program page; Amazon's Brand Registry eligibility page; Alibaba's Intellectual Property Protection Platform instructions; U.S. Customs and Border Protection's recordation page; Morgan Lewis's summary of the jury verdict in Atari Interactive v. Redbubble of 4 November 2021; and the Fista Productions devlog about AliExpress cartridges, all as read on 22 October 2026. Amazon's Report Infringement form requires signing in and was not read beyond that. The statements that sellers of copied designs rarely respond, that copies return under new accounts, and that merch goods are classified separately from games are general description without a linked source. The sorting table, the fan-art and repeat-copy advice, the reading of the Atari case and sections 4, 7 and 9 are our own and are marked as such. It is general information, not legal advice about your situation.