BJD makers threatened by China-based counterfeiter / trademarks

Honestly does it matter which person is doing it? The fact is that someone has done this and now we are in a period of not knowing what is going to happen.
Because of this trademarking, dolls could be confiscated in those countries as illegal things. Even if they are legit dolls from the actual company.

 

Nefla: "As far as the the recaster doing the trademark stealing and "framing" some other recaster-I feel ZERO sympathy for either of them. You willingly steal someone's hard work then I have no sympathy for your thieving, lazy ass. I hope both of them rot." You took the words right out of my mouth!

In fact it would be kind of karmic justice if one allegedly "innocent" recaster called Luo is being confused for another and fretting that they are getting the blame for a situation they didn't create... after all they make a living by peddaling dolls they didn't create and don't give a toss about the artists whose dreams they shatter!

On the subject of fake eggs.... that information is so disgustingly fascinating, thanks for that Blah. I had heard about fake rice but had just dismissed it as urban myth. Wasn't there a scare about faked baby formula a few years back too?

I just hope this dreadful situation makes some of the recast buyers wake up and smell the roses and finally get their head round what they have been funding and walk away. I'm not hopeful though, I saw someone sharing photos they had taken of their recast dolls on Flickr (I think) and they had the gall to put a copyright line on their photograph.... seriously???

 

How audacious of them, and frustrating as a hobbyist. Recasters really have continued to grow bolder and become greedier. Hopefully some people who have bought recast in the past or have been neutral will see this as a line crossed and reconsider their ways. I really wish the auction sites would take the recast issue more seriously.

 

God help us if certain companies stop selling dolls to anyone outside their native country, then everyone would have to go to Yahoo Japan or shopping service to get legitimate dolls

 

That would indeed make you a thief so more like the recaster than the recast buyer IMHO.
That being said, i agree that both recaster and knowingly buyer are criminal. You'll never find me defending them, quite the contrary. ^^
And yes, the amount of dishonesty of those *censored* people is frightening.

@vonbonbon, me too i dismiss fake rice as a urban legend or some fake racist myth a few weeks ago when reading a "how to difference genuine rice of false rice" sent by someone who always pass spam, false news and so... Well, now i know better on that subject (and being french in France, i buy french rice anyway XD ).

 

Blah: "me too i dismiss fake rice as a urban legend or some fake racist myth a few weeks ago when reading a "how to difference genuine rice of false rice" sent by someone who always pass spam, false news and so... Well, now i know better on that subject (and being french in France, i buy french rice anyway XD )."

Now I know better I will be paranoid to eat rice in future.... at least I know the feathery person that lays my eggs!

 

It matters because we have to know the enemy. That maybe a key factor to fight them.

 

About the newbies getting taken in and deceived thing--the more and more I hear about this, the more I think it's a good idea to stop calling them recasts and start calling them counterfeits. "Recast" really doesn't convey the severity of the situation. It makes it easier to mislead the newbies. The recast supporters can continue using their little term but I think if the larger community consistently calls them out as counterfeits it will be harder to deceive newcomers. I'm glad to see there's a movement gathering steam now to refer to these counterfeits as they properly are.

Also, to believe that the only BJDs out there are either Volks/Soom/Iplehouse/Fairyland or Resinsoul/Bobobie...is such a weird dichotomy and betrays a lack of willingness to do research imo. The vast majority of BJD companies are somewhere in between and have such wonderful, creative offerings. Instead of deciding "Oh I need a recast Minifee" why not just look a little harder? You (generic you) might find something you like even better from a company/artist you otherwise wouldn't have heard of....

 

I think there is an opportunity to see a positive outcome from this if in fact companies haven't closed down for that reason only. I do believe if they help each other and other small artists, they don't have to dissappear or shut down. I think we tend to be fatalistic in our thinking because we feel so strongly and emotionally about the dolls and the artists we love so much. We have to remain hopeful and strategic in our thinking about how we can step up and do whatever we are able to help with a positive outcome.

 

Here in Brazil we have a facebook group that actually explain why recast are not allowed, what they are and why its bad in the about of the group for everyone who enters see. But still, when talking about this problem this week some people inside the group were "i'm new here, what is a recast?"
I think it would be great if companies could join force to sell their products in the same site or something, because newbies seen to find aliexpress and see the variety of options there and not know each of the original companies sites, because there are too many. Maybe doa could have a space for this too, don't know....

 

Fun fact. When I was first shown Ball Jointed Dolls, I was shown Doll Zone and Doll Chateau. I didn’t have a clue the other companies existed until I researched more and more. The fact that newbies are claiming to only know those companies shows that they don’t WANT to research. They want the cute sculpt that everyone has on social media. Which seems to be minifees.

Then the pro-recast come in with horror stories of long waits and extremely expensive dolls, before pushing them towards an online shop where they can get the doll cheaper and faster.

 

I recall that HZ specifically stated that they would no longer be making resin dolls because of recasting.

If this is the other Luo, then why register Ouneifs in the EU? As retaliation? We have the registration address, so that could be a way to verify.

 

Another thing I realized is that a lot of boys seem to get attracket by minifees in a kind of nendoroid or whatever that toys are called way and they seem to go for the recast because for them "more is better"

Actually it could be a way to make the other luo have business problems, because apparently those two have fighted for a long time. Someone already checked the adress and said since those two luos live close enough there is no way to be sure, they also mentioned they probably know each other personally or something like this - not that would be usefull, but just trying to give as much information as possible.

 

Yes that's a great point ! Newbies tend to go to one large site like aliexpress eBay or Amazon. I think the large amount of doll companies might intimidate them and if they don't do any research they might think that a bjd is naturally legit because of the large reputation of those sites.

 

But that’s what dealers are for. It’s not that hard to look up to find dealers of Ball Jointed Dolls. Only a few companies don’t use them, off the top of my head I can only think of Iplehouse that doesn’t use dealers.

The thing is people want in on this hobby without actually finding out about this hobby. They just want that cute thing they saw. And this is how we ended up in this problem.

I agree with that on the minifee aspect. Which is why a lot of male collectors also go for the Dolfie Dreams and now SmartDolls. Two companies which haven’t been targeted in this attack by the recaster.

 

Correction: is not hard to find dealers for some countries. Brazil has no dealer, and I'm sure many countries also dont. A dealer from another country seems just as suspect as many sites, as @Serdtse mentioned those newbies think those sites like aliexpress are trustable because they have reputation.

Actually, we have a bjd artist here in brazil, its called morning star and I just found about it this week. And I'm the kind that did the research. So having a plataform that could unite the official sites and maybe sort them by country and other preferences, would be really cool.

 

Good point. I didn't really think that through enough, forgive me. There is no dealer here in Australia, we all have to use Alice's Collections or other ones. So I can understand how they would view them as non-legit sites if they didn't know better. I agree your idea is a good one, but would companies really do that?
Perhaps it would be up to a blog, facebook page or even DoA. Or Tumblr to make a post with what companies/dealers are legit and every place should pin it so it's one of the first thing newbies see.

 

There actually does exist a list like that! Companies & Other Links I think Bjdcollectasy is a great resource in general and needs more exposure.

 

Oh wow! I didn't know that one existed! (I can already sense my credit card trying to hide as I discover new companies xD) But I agree, a thing like this needs to be blasted everywhere so they can know for sure.

 

Though that helps (and thank you, I didn't knew about this page), I was think in something more than stores banners and names. They don't say a lot about the company. If there were the dolls pics like in a show case model with link to the direct page on the official site company to buy it would be more appealing. You know, like as if it was only one store.
I know thats kind - chew the food for the newbies, but newbies don't really have the love for the hobby in them yet, so they search for the easiest way to go.

ps: the brazilian company I mentioned is not in this site, so I guess many others may also not be...
[edit] oh wait, it is actually there (I got lost in the way its displayed), wow, thats really an amazing list!