How to report counterfeits on TikTok Shop with the IPPC

Set up your IPPC account

1. 1

   Create an account

   Create an IPPC account, or log in with a TikTok Shop seller account. Seller accounts can sync brand authorisations and skip the identity check.

2. 2

   Join or create an organisation

   Every account belongs to an organisation, with Admin, Rights Owner and Agent roles. Agencies filing for brands use the Agent role.

3. 3

   Verify your identity

   For the US, businesses provide IRS-issued documents such as a business licence, certificate of incorporation or EIN letter. Individuals provide a passport, driving licence, state ID or permanent resident card.

4. 4

   Register your rights

   Upload proof of each right and wait for approval before you can file against it.

What proof TikTok accepts

The right must be active in the country where you want to enforce it. A trademark registered in another country will not support a complaint in the US shop.

How to file a complaint

In the IPPC, go to Complaint Management, choose Submit New Complaint, then pick the complaint type and country. Search for the products, videos or LIVEs, and fill in the form from top to bottom.

TikTok also accepts complaints about AI-modified copies of your content. Its Originality Protection programme registers eligible sellers' original images automatically and blocks copycat listings before they go live, which is worth checking if you sell on TikTok Shop yourself.

Evidence for counterfeit complaints

Counterfeit complaints on TikTok Shop are judged on side-by-side comparison photos, so the quality of those images decides most outcomes.

• Photograph your genuine product and the listing's product the same way: same angle, same lighting, with the differences visible (logo placement, stitching, labels, packaging).
• Use customer-review photos from the listing when they show the real item received. TikTok accepts them.
• Point out what cannot be genuine: a colourway you never made, a size you do not sell, packaging you do not use.
• For copyright, show your original image next to the listing's. Content infringement needs a 1:1 match, so cropped or edited copies may fit 'unlawful reproduction' better.

Videos and LIVEs can be reported too, which matters on TikTok because copies are often sold through creator videos rather than search. Collect the video or LIVE links along with the product links.

Check your registrations before you start. TikTok enforces rights only in the country where they are registered, and for the US shop it wants the USPTO certificate. A brand with only UK or EU marks can still report copied photos as copyright, using its original files with their metadata.

What happens after you report

The outcome is emailed to you and shown in the IPPC. TikTok may give the account holder your contact information, including your name and email. It does not publish a response time.

If TikTok rejects your complaint you cannot appeal. File a new complaint with the missing information. Sellers, on the other hand, get up to two appeals per case (the first within 30 days of enforcement, the second within 15 days of the first being rejected), and can file a DMCA counter-notice for copyright complaints.

TikTok says repeated offences or selling counterfeits 'could lead to account deactivation'.

If you sell on TikTok Shop yourself

Brands that already sell on TikTok Shop have a few advantages. Logging in to the IPPC with your seller account lets you skip the separate identity check and sync your brand authorisations. TikTok's Originality Protection registers eligible sellers' original images automatically and blocks copycat listings that reuse them before they are published.

Copies that get through usually do so with edited images or through creator videos. Search your product names and categories regularly, look at the videos and LIVEs selling them, and file against the specific content rather than the seller's whole shop.

If an agency files for you, it should be an Agent in your IPPC organisation rather than using your login. That keeps a clear record of who filed what, and you keep control of the organisation if you change agencies.

What TikTok will not process

• Complaints based only on a distribution agreement.
• Complaints based only on price (MAP or MSRP).
• Trademarks, patents or designs from a different country than the shop.

TikTok Shop copies move quickly between sellers. Takedown searches TikTok Shop products for copies of your range as part of counterfeit listing removal, and a person checks each one before anything is filed.