Someone copied my browser extension: what to do next
Your extension has been cloned. How to confirm it, collect evidence, get the copy removed, and make your extension harder to copy next time.
By the broext team ·
Finding a clone of your extension is unsettling: same name, your description, sometimes your actual code, published by someone else and collecting your users. It happens to extensions of every size, and the most popular ones are copied the most. Here's how to deal with it calmly and effectively.
1. Confirm it's really a copy
Many extensions are similar. Two dark-mode extensions with similar names are competitors, not copycats. A listing is a copy when there's evidence that your work was taken:
- Copied code: the published package contains your files. Chrome and Edge packages can be downloaded and unzipped, and Firefox add-ons are plain zip files. Matching files, comments or unusual function names are the strongest proof.
- A copied description: whole sentences or paragraphs of your store listing, word for word.
- A copied icon or screenshots: your artwork, perhaps recoloured or resized.
- Impersonation: your exact name or brand, presented as if it were you.
A similar name or a similar feature alone usually isn't enough, and reports based only on that are often rejected.
2. Check the other stores
Copycats like the stores you're not in. If your extension is only on the Chrome Web Store, a copy may already be sitting on Edge Add-ons, where Chrome extensions can be submitted with few changes, or on Firefox Add-ons. Search each store for your extension's name and for distinctive phrases from your description.
3. Document everything before you report
Take dated screenshots of the copy's listing. Write down the item ID, publisher name, version and user count. Note your own first publish date from your developer dashboard. Copycat listings change once their publishers notice attention, so capture them first.
4. Report it to the store
Send a policy report for impersonation or copied content and, for clear copying, a copyright or trademark complaint as well. The steps differ by store. We cover each one in How to report a copycat extension on the Chrome Web Store, Edge and Firefox.
5. Tell your users, carefully
If the copy is getting real installs, add a short line to your listing and website, for example "Our only official listings are …, linked from our website". Name the real listings rather than the fake one, so you don't send the copy traffic.
6. Make your extension harder to copy
- Publish in all three stores. An empty slot in a store is an invitation. Claiming your name on Chrome, Edge and Firefox stops the easiest copies.
- Link your website from every listing, and link every listing from your website. It helps users find the real one, and it helps you prove ownership.
- Consider registering your name as a trademark if the extension matters to your business. Trademark complaints are among the most effective removal routes.
- Keep evidence of authorship: a public repository, dated releases and your original artwork files.
- Keep watching. Removed copies often return under a new name or account, so checking once isn't enough.
When it's not worth acting
Not every lookalike deserves a report. If a listing has a handful of users, doesn't use your code, words or artwork, and doesn't pretend to be you, it's simply competition. Spend your time on the copies that take your users or your reputation.
Want a head start? Search the extension catalogue for your extension's name to see listings in all three stores, or read how broext tells copies from merely similar extensions.