This problem affects not only emotes but all accessories created on Roblox. I agree with everything written here, but there’s another problem that hasn’t been mentioned here, and which I’ve unfortunately been encountering quite often lately. DMCA takedown often helps for a short time, because asset thieves send DMCA counter-notices, likely with false information, knowing full well that no one will sue them. If you don’t file a lawsuit, the DMCA agent will reinstate all stolen copies to the platform, and more and more asset thieves are using this method to avoid any negative consequences for their theft.
Imagine filing a lawsuit (for many creators, this will be on another continent) every time someone steals an asset from you. You’d have to pay a lawyer and court fees to file a lawsuit (which is a lot of money), and the lawsuit would never even reach its intended recipient because the information in the counter-notice is almost 100% false (especially since it includes the uploader’s, not the group owner’s data) and the asset thieves know perfectly well that no one will verify it, so they can write anything there (once, in the counter notice, I was given the address of the British Prime Minister’s office.). So no one would ever reimburse you for the legal costs. It would be a quick path to bankruptcy. However, if you do not file a lawsuit, the DMCA agent will restore all stolen copies to the platform, and more and more asset thieves use this method to avoid any negative consequences of theft.
In my opinion, when it comes to obvious issues (who stole from whom), the creator should receive help from Roblox, and only in truly controversial situations should the matter be resolved in a court.
Asset thieves destroy original creators over time. While original creators spend a lot of time and effort creating items and risk investing time and money in items that won’t sell much, asset thieves steal only the best sellers, confident that they’re uploading something to the group that will be liked and generate a lot of sales (and the situation described here occurs - that the groups selling copies get verified).