BJD makers threatened by China-based counterfeiter / trademarks

No-one is blaming the country or it's people in general.

We don't blame an entire demographic when one person is doing criminal acts. When police caught a local serial killer, I didn't instantly hate ALL white men in their 20s.....???

 

In mercado livre (which is basically brazilian ebay) we can report if the image doesnt correspond exactly to the product. I wonder if ebay has a similar rule that we could use?
Some people said ebay dont do anything about counterfeits but is actually listed in their rules, it says the right owner should be the one complaining though Creating legally compliant listings

 

This whole situation really breaks my heart. I really hope the companies can fight back.

I wish there was some way to make a type of resin that would destroy a silicone mold or something. That way it would be more difficult to recast the dolls. Though, I suppose that would also make it difficult to use silicone option parts (like the silicone bust pieces I've seen people use) if there was some kind of chemical reaction so... who knows.

I really wish there was more we could do to help the effected companies. It seems the most we can do is buy a doll we've been contemplating, spread awareness of the issue, and hope.

 

Apparently the US Trademark office is currently being flooded with false applications from China because people are being paid to file them.
Flood of Trademark Applications From China Alarms U.S. Officials

 

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The Amber Saunder mention remind me to check Luo's case attorney, he is called Long Yuan and this are the trademarks cases he already worked on. He failed in some cases, but also won many. He actually tradedmarked a brand for himself, its called QQ QQ baby and its related to photography, I searched and this is their site 广州QQBaBy儿童摄影官网 , but I dont know chinese so thats about everything I could find XD

I also noticed the status of the process changed from "new application filed 1/29/2018" to "NON-FINAL OFFICE ACTION ISSUED - CLARIFICATION NEEDED 4/30/2018 Estimated Response Deadline: 10/30/2018" for fairyland and oueneifs and "APPROVED FOR PUBLICATION 5/3/2018" for iplehouse and dollshe craft.
To see the others you need to pay... Though from the status similarity dollmore, IBJD, littlemonica, lina chou chou, peak wood, dollsoom, crobidoll & rosenlied seems to be just like dollshe and iplehouse

[edit] I checked tsdr and the status more specificated for dollshe is is "Approved by the examining attorney for publication but has not yet published for opposition. Although rare, withdrawal of approval prior to publication may occur after final review. The opposition period begins on the date of publication. Status Date: May 03, 2018"
Apparently the reason for fairyland one not being approved for publication is the existence of a brand called "The Real Fairyland" in the same category (toys), I'm amazed by the content avaliability in this site you can the docs and it shows what they claim to be the mark used in commerce and we have this doll in boxes pictures (are they planning to start selling it like this? link 1, link2).
The reason for oueneifs not being approved for publication is the fact the brand is mentioned as both "Oueneifs" and "Queneifs". Again there are pictures of dolls in boxes.
I also am unable to check the other brands files, maybe they are not international as those 4 ones? they only appear in chinatrademark office...

 

So what now? Can fairyland use CP/Fairyland like on their website? With the US office getting flooded, do these other companies even stand a chance before the Legit trademark gets stolen?
This is so heart breaking I can't even think straight

 

I think there is still a long battle to fight, but its disheartening to see things are working so well for luo right now ):
One thing about fairyland is that he actually didnt register with the "cp/", but I dont think this helps anything.

Just to clarify, this "approved for publication" doesnt mean he won, it means he just met the minimum filling requirement and that will now be examined, which is basically just the start.

 

Fairyland website clearly states that the company name is CP/Fairyland and if you look at their terms of service and privacy policy it does state that information is collected This information can serve as proof of their company name?

 

It depends of since when its collected, and also from what luo has as proofs. Luo is claiming he uses fairyland brand since "
FIRST USE ANYWHERE DATE At least as early as 12/12/2003
FIRST USE IN COMMERCE DATE At least as early as 12/18/2015 "
but the current files wouldnt be enough to fight fairyland files, we will have to see what more he has... He probably expected to do all this in secret and surprise the brands but because of taobao everyone knows it now.

 

This is really devastating. So that means he already has DollShe? Because from what I gather, Iplehouse is protected?

 

Ok, back to "which luo it is" case study, apparently luo doll tried to register its brand in 2016 (another attorney, another story) with his actual name "luo qinghua", but oueneifs misspelled trademark supposed done by luo ligui is actually filled with the exact same adress. Though both recasters are in the same city: Jiangxi, those two process were probably done by the same person. Which one? Who knows!
I do wonder if in case its luodoll doing if he is actually not planning on get this trademarks (since he probably doesnt have enough proofs) but is just doing this to defame his competition, in which case we wouldnt actually have to worry that much because that would be just a recasters fight.
As a famous person said on tv this year and it became a famous quote "the evil kills itself"!

No no, as I mentioned before, it just means the process is starting now.

 

iplehouse is not protected everywhere AND Trademarks and copywrite are not the same thing... i know they have copywrite but don't know about trademarks

 

oh, you are right, the fact its was approved for publication means at least for usa they dont have it or it would have clashed like fairyland did with "The Real Fairyland".

 

@mangameow
Using the list provided by @flornosertao , I can confirm that I've been contacting these companies, but got no replies so far.

April Story
Chica Bonita
Crobidoll
Kreamdoll
Monodee
Rosenlied
Sadol

 

you're amazing!!!!!
thank you so much, i'll add them to the list, and i'll be reaching out to withdoll shortly, as i don't believe anyone else has. i can't imagine they don't already know, but i think it's important to ask and let them know they have our support!
i feel nervous contacting companies i don't own any dolls from, because i'm shy, but i do have a few withdolls in my plans, so i'm going to take this step!! >///<''

 

@mangameow
Well I don't have dolls from some of the companies I contacted, but I think it's important to reach all of them, whether we have their dolls/not. I just hope, even though they don't reply to us, but at least they read the post and take some action. I'll let you know if any of those companies suddenly throws a reply to my inquiry.

 

that's true! i do too! i just get nervous over very silly things easily.
thank you for your hard work, i hope we hear back from those companies soon...

 

Than let me just update the list

April Story (contacted but no answer yet),
Chica Bonita (contacted but no answer yet),
Chicabi Doll is actually chicabonita new name,
Cocoriang (not mentioned in the doc),
Crobidoll (contacted but no answer yet),
Dara do you mean darak? (not mentioned in the doc),
DollBom (not mentioned in the doc),
Doll'n'Doll (not mentioned in the doc),
IBJDD I have no info about this company, in case its a typing mistake for ID BJD they are also (not mentioned in the doc),
Kreamdoll (contacted but no answer yet),
Leekeworld (not mentioned in the doc),
Lina Chouchou (not mentioned in the doc),
Monochrome (not mentioned in the doc),
Migidoll (not mentioned in the doc),
Monodee (contacted but no answer yet),
Napi (not mentioned in the doc),
Rosenlied (contacted but no answer yet),
RSDoll (not mentioned in the doc),
Sadol (contacted but no answer yet),
Withdoll (contacted but no answer yet).

I think its worth noting some of the korea companies are in a kind of hiatus because they are busy with some physical event/showroom, so they say its easier to contact them by Q&A than email. I also checked all those companies notice board, blogs and social media, there is nothing there.

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So, as for the process docs analyzes, I checked trademarks in some countries and apparently he only applied for USA, European Union and China, those "apply to Australia & Canada" are just a site feature for IF you want to apply for trademark there too, but those brands are not in those countries system.

For USA and European Union, he applied for:
- Fairyland
- Iple House
- Dollshe craft since 2003
- Oueneifs

For China he applied for 76 trademarks, some being from the same company stylized different ("Iplehouse" and "Iple house", "dollshe craft" and "dollsh since 2009").

While USA process are just starting, the chineses ones I mentioned in the previous post (iple house, dollsh since 2009, dollmore, IBJD, littlemonica, lina chou chou, peak wood, dollsoom, crobidoll & rosenlied) may actually already have been won, in this case they will be working until 2027/2028 depending on which, with the possibilite of being renewed.
Its worth mention that although many of fairyland brands (pukifee, realfee, feeple...) are in the chinese list, "fairyland" is not. Neither is oueneifs, but luodoll is.
Again, you need to pay to view. I'm so curious that I would pay to check at least one (probably "iple house" so I could compare with USA's status), but mom took my international credit card... It is a dollar for doc, so If anyone pay to see, please print!

For European Union, the process is in between usa's one and china's one. Apparently it was published since 29/01 and opposition could be made until day 30 (hope the companies made it in time).
The correspondent info posted by @DoA Mod Squad in the main thread, is actually the one in this process, they seem to be using a different lawyer here.
I checked this guy too, and here are the trademarks process he already work with. Except for the on going ones, he doesnt seem to have lost any case

 

Yes, it is against Ebay's policy. They rely on customers turning the perpetrators in, though. I have turned in counterfeit goods listings before, most lately a recast Blue Moons Productions stunt puppet. The seller was later banned, so they do investigate such reports. I don't know if it's every single one, or if it's only when the same seller gets multiple complaints. Either way, we can turn it in.

 

It makes me really sad that stuff like this happens, as it shows absolutely no respect for the artists behind the dolls or any legitimate parts of the hobby. I hope that everyone who is pro-recast at least knows the effect that their actions have on the hobby now.