BJD makers threatened by China-based counterfeiter / trademarks

There hardly is any rivalry among companies and especially not so big that they wouldn't band together if they could. International law is very difficult however, and hiring a lawyer expensive. Most of these companies have less than 5 employees: They don't have the funds to register their trademark, let alone battle someone who is trying to get ownership over it.

I do know that Grace (owner Jpopdolls) has done quite a bit to try to battle Luo's practices, but from what she's written, it has only cost her a lot of money, without any result.

 

Don't remind me, I am still heartbroken after that movie!

On the other hand, @Silk , as long as he stays in China, the rest of us are safe. We have to make sure, if he wins, at least he stays where he is and does not spread like cancer cells to other regions.

How about a # on Twitter, maybe make a newscast and make it big so affected governments would be forced to look into the matter?

 

Luts has made an official statement about it just now.
Welcome to LUTS - Ball Jointed Dolls (BJD) company

 

I'm going to submit it to NPR as a news story. This is what I'm sending:


The ball-jointed doll hobby community is in an uproar. A person already notorious for selling recast (bootleg) dolls is attempting to register trademarks of logos and names that belong to the companies he steals from. Members of the community across the globe have researched and found that Luo Ligui of chinaBJD has applied for trademark registration in China, the EU, and the USA. One South Korean doll company, Luts, has already released a statement on their website against this (Welcome to LUTS - Ball Jointed Dolls (BJD) company). This is a case of Chinese intellectual property theft, and none of the very small doll maker businesses have the funds to legally go after Luo.


Who knows if they'll take it seriously, but it can't hurt to try, right? I mean, intellectual property theft in China is kind of a timely subject anyway.

 

I hope that they can then do something "stupid" to fight back, like register and sell their dolls using the name Faïryland. It's so sad that that this person is doing this, but it saddens me way more to see other people defend him. They'd rather have their cheap things than protect the very people who make this hobby possible and make us all happy.

I'll be looking out for more official responses and anything we can do as a community to help.

 

I don't know about you, but I am no expert at all about the legal procedures surrounding trademark law, and how it can be misused by criminals and so on. So I searched for some understandable background info, and maybe some of you would find this useful as well?

The Five Kinds of China Trademark Squatters (from China Law blog) I guess this *person* is category 2?

Also interesting is this story: How to protect your business against trademark squatters in China, as it tells the tale of US companies trying to fight back Chinese trademark squatters - so it talks about the legal action that can, or cannot, be taken against it.

Not very optimistic, I guess. I had no idea that was a common practice... until now.

 

I got a reply from Ringdoll :

Dear,
Thank you for your information, we will also pay attention to this event.
Best
Cherry
Ringdoll​

I'm still waiting replies from a few other companies. Now I realize that Soom has Soom China, so hopefully they already have the trademark and all? Last time I check, they have Chinese website of Neo AngelRegion, Rosette, The Gem, IDealian & Lila.

Dollmore also has a Chinese website... I did contact Dollmore, just in case they haven't aware of this situation... I'll keep DoA posted about any replies.

Crossing fingers that the companies can fight back & win!

@fransyung
me too... but it's true right, this evil creature is like Thanos, killing all of the good people... and we need to support the Doll Companies to fight back & win.

@AnnoDomini
Oh great, thanks for the info! Luts also replied to me, but since they already posted the official statement, I won't quote the reply.

 

I do not think this would be productive...., I mean that they delete this thread.

this!

 

It’s disgusting.
I’m so angry... and sad. Horrible person.

 

I have a hard time discussing recasts without getting emotional, which usually = getting pissed off = language not allowed on this site, but I do hope this thread does not get closed. People need to know what is going on with this. Especially for those not on other forms of social media, as has been pointed out at least once. They're not going to have other platforms to read about it.

Also, there are a lot of companies on this site. They read the comments and they get feedback here....if they see this thread and they haven't found out about this yet it could help them. At the very least they'll see the community is behind them, we are here and support them.

 

i have started a page on my doll tumblr to keep track of who has been contacted and their responses so we don't overwhelm the companies. it's in alphabetical order, and if you are using windows you can use CTRL+F to search for a company.
bjd trademark notifications (luo aftermath 2k18)

please let me know of any companies you have contacted, and of their response, if any.
you can quote this post, private message me, or contact me on tumblr or instagram.
please check this list before contacting any companies, and give it a while to be updated to "Current".

>>edit: i have updated the url and language to reflect that it is trademarks that are being violated not copyright. i have been informed that a good general term/catch-all for the subject is "intellectual property rights" which encompasses trade marks, copyrights, and patents, etc.

 

This right here pretty much sums up my feelings too. I hate the whole debate and prefer to just state I’m anti-recast and support artists and leave it at that because people either agree and nothing more needs to be said, or people want to argue and refuse to listen and nothing I say gets through anyway, then I just end up frustrated and angry.


But this news and topic are so important because this is the concrete evidence of the damage recasting causes. This is proof right here that buying recasts because you’re ‘poor’ is not ‘sticking it to the big corporations’. It’s proof that they’re lining the pockets of someone making bank by stealing from artists who may be struggling just to make ends meet—one big huge hypocritical slap in the face.

I really hope the legit companies can band together and fight this, and we need to be here to offer whatever help we can to them. If this goes into effect, it will no doubt destroy many of the smaller companies and possibly some of the large ones. It’s heartbreaking for this to happen to ANY company, and it especially hits hard for me because I own and love dolls from several companies on that list.

I think the best thing we can do right now is raise awareness of this issue, support the companies but not flood them with emails (give them time to focus on their fight and regular business), and encourage people who have made mistakes in the past to do the right thing now and join us in supporting the artists of the dolls we all love.

 

This! ^

I really think that this a very good idea.

As a community we can do so much to help. But we must be organized.

To help with updates on mangameow's page, Please Quote them with any responses from the doll companies that are contacted.



What everyone can do on an individual level is this:

Post this on whatever social media platform you use, try only to post the facts of what this about and show your support to the affected companies.

Those who have Youtube channels, Definitely create a video stating the facts and show your support.

A hash tag perhaps ( #DoASupports ? ) can be attached to every message.

To those of other languages, please post your message in as many different languages as you can.

Let's flood social media with this message that what is happening is not alright and we as a community will not stand for it.

 

i agree, please contact me as soon as you have sent the company a notification as well, so i can add it right away and they don't get flooded. ^^
i almost thought the hashtag #luogate was applicable, if a little gauche, lol

also, i just updated the post to and page to have more accurate language to the situation.

 

I was wondering, should I also make a blog post about this in br/pt? I'm sure brazilian community is already talking about this but some people really doesnt believe saying its fake news (maybe it will change now that luts and lati already made statements).

 

please do! i don't speak any brazilian portugese, and if no one else has made a post, you should take the first step and speak up! we'll all be here to support you. ^^

 

Please help me organizate my thoughts, I didn't sleep well from yesterday to today because of this (plus it was my bday and overall sad) so I am not thinking straight. What would be a good title? I am going to start with what is happening, than the companies statement and after that leave space to edit about how can you help. Anything missing? I will link to "what are recasts and why they are bad" of our br bjd community in the start because when discussing this some people were like "I'm new in the hobby, what is a recast", so they may need it.

 

awww, well happy birthday, even if it wasn't too great!

a good title could be something like "Brazilian BJD Community, Our Beloved Companies Are In Trouble!"

starting with what happened and a brief explanation of chinese trademark law, linking to some company statements, an explanation of why recasts are bad for the hobby would be good. if they don't know what recasts are, it's important for them to know so they don't accidentally buy them, and more importantly for them to know how badly it can hurt our artist friends!

 

Thank you for sharing this @Mandagore - it's a valuable piece of knowledge!

As much as I am not suprised this happened in China, since yesterday (when I first found out about this issue), I just couldn't believe this being true. I thought this might be fake news aimed at recast market with a hope of dealing some solid damage. Unfortunately, from what I can see now, this is a serious case...

I think that best we can do for companies it to continue supporting their business by buying their legit products. As long as they keep producing and we keep buying, they can go on unharmed. And anyone new in the hobby should have access to thorough and solid education on what recasts are and how to stay safe.

 

On the social media front, (in addition to posting the information about this) What about doing something like posting pictures of any dolls we have from the affected companies along with signage that has messages about supporting the artists and buying legit while linking back to information or an official company statement. (if one has been made)
Just as one more way to show support for the companies and get the word out.