If you still don't know which of our services your case falls into – contact us!
Contact us
Few people realise that behind the look of a successful online shop lies a huge amount of intellectual property that is subject to legal protection. In the digital environment, the line between inspiration and direct theft is extremely thin, and e-commerce now ranks among the most affected sectors. So as not to turn into an easy target, every online entrepreneur must be aware of potential threats, know which elements of their site are protected by law, and know how to react in a timely manner to unauthorised copying.
What are the protected objects of copyright in an online store?
Not every product description is protected by copyright – the law requires it to contain an element of creativity and originality. Texts that are purely technical lists (dimensions, composition, functions), as well as dry instructions, are not protected because they are based on the products’ characteristics themselves.
Descriptions featuring individuality - an authorial style, original analogies or creatively presented consumer benefits - are recognised as copyright works.
Why do we so often see completely identical texts in dozens of online shops? This is because mass distributors provide ready-made text templates from manufacturers or wholesalers.
When online shops copy them directly, they save resources but lose legal protection and their SEO advantage, as search engines do not rank paraphrased or identical content highly.
IPfabrika recommends the following best practices to help you avoid disputes with other traders and ensure your website maintains a good reputation:
1. Creating unique content – publish original descriptions of your key products and emphasise your brand’s distinctive tone.
2. If you work with copywriters, ensure that you expressly transfer the rights to them by means of a legally valid contract. The law requires that the transfer of exclusive rights be in writing.
3. Always keep the original publication dates as evidence in the event of a dispute.
Not every image in an online shop is protected by law. For a photograph to be subject to copyright within the meaning of the Copyright and Related Rights Act, it must possess an original and creative character – that is, the photographer must have made free artistic choices regarding composition, lighting, angle or focus.
Images with ideological content, conceptual advertising shots and stylised product photography are fully protected.
On the other hand, dry, purely technical shots (such as automated photography of a product against a plain background without any creative input) hardly meet the criteria for creativity, and the extent to which they are protected is debatable. Nevertheless, the direct downloading and use of third-party photographs carries significant legal risks of claims for compensation and may be classified as an act of unfair competition.
To safeguard your digital business, IPfabrika advises:
The use of artificial intelligence to generate descriptions and visuals is becoming increasingly common in e-commerce, but it poses serious legal challenges in relation to copyright.
The basic rule under Bulgarian and European law is that the author of a given work can only be a natural person. As AI algorithms do not have legal personality, content generated purely by them (simply by entering text prompts) is not subject to copyright protection and remains in the public domain.
Rights to such content arise only where there is significant subsequent human intervention. If you use AI as a tool but creatively rework the text or substantially edit the image with additional design elements, the new version is protected by copyright belonging to the human creator. More about You can find out more about artificial intelligence and intellectual property here.
Important: as content owners, you have the right to prohibit the use of your website for so-called „automated text and data mining“. This prohibition must be expressed by machine-readable means (for example, in the website’s robots.txt file).
The visual identity of an online shop is key to brand recognition, but not every design enjoys legal protection.
Copyright protects unique graphic elements – original icons, illustrations, customised user interfaces (UI/UX) and bespoke typefaces – which embody creative thought.
On the other hand, standard functional layouts (such as a grid of products), standard navigation buttons („Buy“, „Trolley“) and unmodified templates are not eligible for protection, as they are commonplace and dictated by consumer habits.
How can you protect your visual assets?
Software piracy in the e-commerce sector often goes unnoticed by the end user, but it has serious legal consequences. Copyright law treats the source code of web platforms in the same way as literary works.
However, the copyright protects only the originally written code: custom scripts, unique plugins, and proprietary software modules. Standard open-source libraries, the ready-made code on platforms such as WooCommerce or Shopify, and the underlying algorithms are free to use and cannot be monopolised.
In the case of databases, the legal regime is more specific. A catalogue of products, customers or pricing is protected where the collection, arrangement and organisation of the data result from substantial investment of resources or intellectual effort.
The raw facts and prices themselves are not subject to copyright, but their systematic extraction (so-called ‘data scraping’) by a competitor constitutes a direct infringement of the trader’s rights. Even the systematic extraction of insignificant parts may constitute an infringement if it undermines the investment made by the creator of the database.
Securing these technical assets requires preparatory measures. On the one hand, agreements with external developers and software companies must strictly include a clause transferring exclusive rights to the software developed.
On the other hand, the drafting of Terms and Conditions for the website that prohibit automated database extraction provides an additional lever for response and legal protection in the event of potential unfair competition.
If you discover your photos, texts or design on a third-party website, you must immediately take swift and methodical action. The first step is the notary or digital certification of the infringement (capturing the content and code) to secure indisputable evidence before it is removed.
An official warning letter is to be sent to the infringer requesting the immediate cessation of use, along with the submission of DMCA notices to the hosting provider and the Google search engine for the de-indexing of the pages.
If extrajudicial steps are unsuccessful, you may bring claims before the competent district court to establish and stop the infringement, as well as for compensation for the damages caused. The law provides for the possibility for the court to award fair compensation ranging from 500 to 100,000 leva (from approximately 255 to 51,000 euros) when the damages are difficult to prove.
Since every duplicate content case has its own specifics, choosing the wrong strategy can delay the process or compromise your legal standing. To achieve maximum protection and a swift resolution of the issue, it is best to trust professionals with proven experience in the field, such as the intellectual property lawyers from IPfabrika.
Intellectual property is among the most valuable assets of any digital merchant.
Investing in unique content, properly managed copyright and a prompt response to infringements protect your brand from financial and reputational damage.
Do not leave your efforts in the hands of unfair competitors and grow your business on a solid legal foundation.
