May 23, 2026, 5:59 PM EDT. Ryan Billington, a 20-year-old poster designer, is suing Shopify in Australia for hosting two ghost stores that allegedly copied his designs 3,929 times. Ghost stores are online shops that mimic legitimate brands to deceive customers, often delivering poor or no products. Billington's Brisbane federal court claim follows Shopify's failure to act on 45 infringement notices related to websites clutchposters.com and audibleposters.com. Despite copyright protections, Billington says Shopify ignored repeated takedown requests. The lawsuit highlights challenges global platforms face in policing copyright infringement across borderless e-commerce sites. Both accused ghost stores appear offline days after the lawsuit filing. Shopify declined to comment.