Dr Martens is suing online retailer Temu for allegedly infringing its trademarks, in the latest sign of growing hostility from western retailers towards their rapidly growing Chinese rivals.

The British bootmaker is alleging that Temu paid Google to advertise boots sold on its site when users searched keywords including “Dr Martens” and “Airwair’ in certain markets. This placed Temu’s lookalike products above Dr Martens’ own in search results.

Temu sells cheap versions of clothes produced by companies including Adidas, Fred Perry and Lacoste. In the US, analysts from Bernstein found this month that Temu’s versions of popular branded products appeared first in Google searches including “Chanel mini evening bag” and “KitchenAid”.

Google’s advertising policies stipulate that it does not allow ads that infringe trademark rights, but the search giant does not restrict advertisers from using trademarks as keywords.

Dr Martens, which filed the claim at the High Court last week, sued fast-fashion giant Shein in 2021 over what it described as a “clear intent to sell counterfeits”. Dr Martens declined to comment on its case against Temu.

A spokeswoman for Temu said it had yet to receive the complaint and will review it in due course.

Temu and Shein are making waves in the West with new business models that involve shipping cheap products direct from Chinese factories to consumers’ homes. The low value of the consignments means they slip beneath the £135 threshold at which the UK levies import duties.

Dragons’ Den star Theo Paphitis, owner of high street chains Robert Dyas and Ryman, said the government had been “asleep at the wheel”.

Temu’s owner, the Chinese ecommerce group PDD Holdings, last month unveiled annual sales of $34.9 billion (£28 billion), a jump of 90 per cent, off the back of Temu’s explosive growth.

However, analysts estimate that Temu is racking up heavy losses from its huge advertising spend; it has advertised during the Super Bowl for two years running.