Copy Cats! - does it bother you if someone tries to copy your doll's style/looks?

I've certainly borrowed design elements I've seen in other dolls or characters. There was a rash of pink haired, blue eyed dolls on the forum a while back and that particular colour combo always made me want a doll with the opposite, blue hair and pink eyes. I finally have one and he's just as obnoxiously coloured as I had hoped.

But seeing one piece of the puzzle you like and adapting it for your own use is completely different from lifting a doll's entire persona and look. It just comes across as cheap and lame to me. I have a doll who has a fairly bright clashing colour scheme and faceup and has always looked very different to other examples of her sculpt, and I really had to roll my eyes when another appeared with the same look and colour scheme complete with replication of her faceup. The knockoff's never going to be as interesting as my doll is.

There's not much you can do besides make a couple of snide remarks to friends and move on.

 

Not only did I see another member here on DOA copy a look that our same dolls have (we both have Impldoll Dorisy in blue-ish skin), but a company copied my ideas/poses from photos of the Dorisy I bought from them and used it for their own (impldoll). I don't really mind. If anything I find it kind of an honor. :P

 

All of my dolls are my own, I've never based a doll off of another. I will search the databases to get an idea of what color eyes would fit my doll's character, and also how wigs lay on their heads (fur vs. fiber). But personally I wouldn't mind if someone wanted a doll similar to mine, my Miho is twins with another DoA member's Miho ^_^ I would be annoyed if someone ripped the name, personality traits, likes/dislikes, etc and put it on their doll who is the exact same mold.

 

Ideas and inspiration are rarely original. Stravinsky had said, "Good composers borrow, great composers steal", and he wasn't the only artist to have said such a thing. Why do we like some things we see and not others? It's because we've been inundated with various imagery and influences since birth, and our preferences are a mix of either accepting or denying all that we've absorbed since then.

Even if you're not consciously aware of it, when you're dressing your dolls or yourself, decorating your house, drawing, etc., you're following an idea or theme that you've probably seen somewhere, sometime. So I don't really think it's worth it to bash someone if you think they're copying your style and you don't like it. Or to adamantly say your style comes from no one but yourself, because it may or may not be a direct copy of something you've seen, and it may be completely awesome, but it's unlikely that it's completely original.

So if someone buys a wig or an outfit because they saw what you did with it first, there's no reason to accuse them of copying you. Even in the case of someone flat out buying the exact face-up, outfit, wig, and accessories for the same sculpt, and the dolls ends up looking like a virtual copy, the only immoral thing I see would be if the copycat doesn't admit that he/she is copying someone else's doll. (Although, truth be told, I'm not sure why one would want to.) What I consider completely wrong is not admitting where you got your ideas, especially when you have consciously and purposefully studied them.

The way I see it, if you're the 'originator' of the idea, then you must have tons more ideas to deal out and make concrete, why be stingy about one (by which I mean let others use your idea as inspiration, not to let them claim that the idea is theirs)? I believe you'll be recognized for your works and ideas if you consistently turn out awesome ones, and especially if you have a recognizable style. Then the most awesome thing in the future would be someone saying, "Oh look, this doll is dressed like (whatever your online alias is)'s style'. That's admitting not just that one of your looks is awesome, but that you've come up with something that's easily recognizable even in something you may not have directly influenced. That's lasting influence.

With real world fashions, a lot of marketers pay famous people/'taste makers' to dress in their clothes in the hopes that they'll be copied by 'ordinary' people. And lots of people get inspiration for their wardrobes from following magazines and people's blogs. No one thinks there's anything wrong with that kind of copying. In fact, it's to be expected. Even fashion designers themselves have flat out taken ideas/styles from other designers, living and dead, and other cultures/countries for use in their own collections. Some have easily admitted, others flat out deny, which I don't understand. And really, let's admit it, sometimes the copier does it better, and I'm grateful for both incarnations of the same idea. The first for bringing it to attention, the second for evolving it.

To wit: even if others are indebted to you for your ideas, fear not! For you are doubtless indebted to others for theirs.

 

I saw someone make a bad copy of a piece of art I did. It wasn't really a copyright problem, and I wasn't losing money over it. It was definitely a copy--but she was just a beginner--so it was really a bad copy. The thing is, she was posting it for comments and said: "I just came up with this the other day."

So I was thinking... WHA???

Not that I wanted any credit (it really wasn't a good piece of art), but for goodness sakes, why LIE about it, claiming you came up with something like that yourself? Kinda pathetic... and sad, really.

ANYWAY-- DOLLS...

People can feel free to copy as much as they want from me!

For one thing-- what other people do with their dolls doesn't matter to me. I'm not selling anything and therefore losing money if they copy stuff, plus there's no ethical or legal rule against it. How they enjoy their dolls is their deal, not mine. And I have my dolls to enjoy, so what they do with their dolls is nothing to me.

For another-- it's pretty much impossible to copy something that well (as in the beginning artist trying to copy my artwork). BJDs, with so many different choices of faceups, eyes, wigs, accessories, clothes, shoes, etc., are almost all unique. Sure, you can get a fullset of something... but poses and lighting and differences in the hand-made items still make the dolls at least a little different. I know that I look in the doll databases and pretty much all the dolls look different, even with default faceups and such. ---- My own dolls even look like totally different dolls whenever I change outfits or wigs or whatever!

Finally--in this case, with bjd styling, it's flattering. (It's not with the artwork... I make my living through that! And really--why can't people just be honest? Or rely on their own creativity? It really isn't that difficult. It's something everyone has to some degree--or at least they can try and develope it. And it's free! geesh... How lazy do you have to be to copy someone and lie about it?) And to be "inspired" by my dolls is fine. Go to town, I say! It's not hurting anyone. (Of course, I don't have very unique dolls, so it's less of a problem with my dolls, I guess. I might be a bit more miffed if I'd done something really out there and bizarre with a doll and then someone copied it exactly.) I think people worry about having unique dolls a bit too much--particularly if they have a doll that isn't that far out there-- like worrying about having the only lolita wearing pink with a pink wig or something like that.

Anyway, with most bjds, there probably isn't any copying going on... and if there is something that is very, very obvious, then the person who does it should just be honest if they are called on it. But with most cases, it's possible for people to have similar ideas for their dolls, and that's usually only what it is...

 

Most ideas contain fragments of ideas or observations previously generated, or may have been subconsciously gleaned from the ideas of another individual that you just so happen to be privy to. Many ideas are generated based upon bias, and previously attained knowledge. So few ideas are truly original. My Lusis is sisters with (and therefore resembles, to an extent) my friend's Unoa Akubi. However, blatant copying (i.e. exact same molds with face-ups that bear a significant resemblance to the original owner's doll but are not default, similar or exact eyes and wigs, so on and so forth), to which the copier has received no consent from the original owner, is pretty apparent, and--to me--demonstrates a lack of creativity. It can't be helped if two or more dolls owned by different people happen to be of the same sculpt and share uncannily similar or exact personality attributes, non-default face-ups, and wigs/eyes, etc., as long as the occurrence was unintentional. Now, by "uncannily similar", I mean almost exact replications. Of course, copying can be viewed as a homage to the original creator of the doll's appearance/personality. If that's the case, inquiring for consent is advised, and if the original owner declines, accept it. [To me] it seems disrespectful to copy a doll when told otherwise.

 

Sometimes, I think people get a bit uppity about someone 'stealing their ideas'. I mean, there sure are a lot of Lishe's out there- surely more than one or two has blue hair, or whatever, right? Sometimes when people accuse of stealing/copying ideas, I really feel they're just being way too sensitive.

However. I don't let that kind of thing bother me. Your doll is your doll. If you want a purple haired green eyed girl named Amy, and someone else has a purple haired green eyed girl named Aimee, then you can either get upset that they stole the idea or whatever, or you can shrug it off and move on. Chances are if they copied, they're not going to get the most out of their doll. And who knows? They may genuinely have had a similar idea, seen your doll and decided they loved that sculpt for their vision of their character, and the two may be a million miles different when you get down to it.

 

I'm inspired by other people's dolls all the time. I love to see what other people do with their dolls, it's one of the fascinating parts of the hobby for me. However, I'd never replicate or try to replicate someone's doll down to the last freckle. I don't find that interesting and I don't find it very respectful to the people who have inspired me. I don't want a clone of someone else's doll any more than I'd be comfortable to find someone else had a clone of one of my dolls.

I don't think anyone can truly claim to be 100% original because inspiration had to have come from somewhere to begin with. We're all drawing from a deep pool of shared ideas. What makes a doll unique to you is how you interpret this inspiration. No one has exactly the same view of the world, so although there may be many dolls with pink hair, grey eyes and freckles...not all of them will look the same, just like not all human beings with the same hair colour and eye colour and complexion will look the same.

With names, however, I think it's fairly obvious when a name has been directly copied. There are a few dolls' names that are unique, created by the owner especially for the doll/character. If someone had a doll called 'Mafonwen' I'd know exactly where the name had come from - me. 'Mafonwen' is a name comprised of two Welsh words for 'raspberry' and 'fair/white'. It doesn't exist as a 'real' Welsh name anywhere. I made it up. If it crops up anywhere else I'll know I've been copied and I'd be quite annoyed about it!

 

I think it really depends, there can be a lot of overlap between copying and coincidence. Just because your doll has purple hair doesn't make you a copier of someone else's doll of the same sculpt with purple hair necessarily, and especially in situations where the characters a doll represents might come from what we would know as the real/modern world, in a sense, I think some resemblance between dolls is inevitable. What would bother me more than simply incorporating an element of another doll's style that someone liked into your own doll is if a doll has some unusual defining characteristic that is imitated, or like Jescissa just mentioned, an original name. I'd be irritated by that, but in most circumstances I wouldn't be extremely vocal about it.

 

In a way, yes, it would bother me because I wouldn't feel that my doll is as unique as I wish her to be.
But then, my doll has black hair and usually wears finished Dollmore or Dollheart outfits. It isn't that unique (even though I haven't really stumbled onto any doll I think looked like mine... Maybe the product pics on DollHearts page, but I saw those before I got my doll, and I try my hardest to make her look different)

I wouldn't be bothered by the owner of the doll who looks like mine, but more bothered that I care.
Because I love my doll even if there are many out there like her (which there isn't, haha), because this is MY doll, and the ones similar to her are not. It's not the same.

 

well its pretty rare to find people who own the same doll with the same style as the one u own but even so i dont think the doll would look exactly the same cuz each owner has his own style thus the dolls will as well.plus a lot of people sew the doll clothes and make their own accessories.

 

For me it would be both flattering and annoying. I mean one outfit or style sure. But more than that I would probably be like "Hey ummmmm nooo" lol

 

We see so many dolls on this forum, it would be impossible for someone at some point not come away with something that caught their eye. They might not even remember it when they execute something on their doll, so I wouldn't really expect someone to credit another owner.

Especially a first-time owner, who has no idea what they want their doll to be. Sometimes, emulating a style can be a great springboard for that person to find their own tastes and style. I remember, in a creative writing class I once took, our assignment was to write something in the style of another author we admired. Our professor said that, even when we were trying to write as the other author would, our own personalities and styles showed through.

I'm not saying that a person can't do their best, and create a replica of someone else's doll, because that can happen (and while I'd be peeved, I don't think there's anything I could do). But if someone wants to buy a DM Kid Flocke, dress it in the same wig and eyes, and celebrate it, go ahead. I've seen two dolls dressed similarly to mine, and I just find it funny because I never knew about them - and they came before I had mine. Who's to know if they try to say it's their own idea? They could easily be like me and just not know.

There's no way someone can look at every doll on this forum and create a doll unlike any of them. Commonalities are bound to happen, and unless markings, and overall design are specific enough, who's to say they got the idea from your doll, and not someone else's? Who's to say where any of our ideas came from?

 

I do have to say, it's very bothersome when you work hard on what you want your doll to specifically look like, and then someone sees it and immediately decides to do it for their own doll. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if it was a different mold but when it's the same exact doll and will be wearing all the same things as your own. It's troublesome.

I've actually decided to refrain from posting my dolls on DoA for a while now because of it happening to me.

 

Totally agree with Xinwang on this one

"Even if you're not consciously aware of it, when you're dressing your dolls or yourself, decorating your house, drawing, etc., you're following an idea or theme that you've probably seen somewhere, sometime. So I don't really think it's worth it to bash someone if you think they're copying your style and you don't like it. Or to adamantly say your style comes from no one but yourself, because it may or may not be a direct copy of something you've seen, and it may be completely awesome, but it's unlikely that it's completely original."

This reminds me of a few similar things in non-dolly arenas...
in Scrapbooking, scrappers refer to the term scraplifting - you see a layout you adore, and you try to emulate it, by using a similar colour theme, or a similar layout, but your photos are your own, your elements are your own and while it bears a resemblance to the original it is not a photocopy. In this area you credit your source and they are flattered about being seen as having the kind of style someone wants to 'lift'

We used to have a competition in scraplifting, where we were all given the same photos and the same kit to work with to produce the same layout, there was a lot of creativity and usually everyone was quite different, but some things would be the same, because two people thought that would be a good way to display something.

I saw posts on the cheezburger network from someone (very young) who was convinced that they had solely come up with nom nom nom (for eating noises). When the phrase had already been around so long that they could not have.

I have just recently thought of this totally awesome coin purse design that I thought I would make and sew up and provide a tutorial for doing something like it on my blog. I was at the point of drawing designs and thinking about the pattern and I was looking at links from another person's blog and there it was, exactly the same thing I was thinking about. I know 100% that I had not seen that blog or image or even heard of the idea before, but there is someone out there, who had the exact same idea.

I think this happens all the time, every day. Mostly we don't know about it, but with the internet and global media and connectivity it happens.

Thinking an idea in your head is 100% original is the height of arrogance.

Why do people come up with the same jokes or the same one liners (for example) jokes about an athlete who has been caught on steroids and is in the media... You may have come up with the joke, but so have 100 other people, because have the same mind map at that time that would lead to that joke.

This also applies to dolls...
don't automatically assume someone is copying you, or attempting to emulate your style. Take a deep breath, ask them how they got their ideas, and if it doesn't include you.. move on, they could very well have come up with it on their own.


*hides*

 

sometimes can be same but if style,name,story even type is same...it's disaster. I don't care if someone copy my dolls outfits or wig or eye or name or type because everything from the factory lol, but if all the thing is same well,it will be bit angry. anyway i saw few times people had argue because of that.

 

I don't think it would bother me too much since my doll has very specific features and taste in style. Since he's a physical representation of my OC from my webcomic, I'd be more offended if someone copied him as a character in whole [like, using similar characteristics in their character's or stories].

I don't think that made sense. xD;;

 

I'd only be annoyed if they literally made their doll a clone of mine. I take inspiration from other people's dolls but I would never make a complete copy of someone else's character.
It's different when people make characters from shows and stuff though, because it's not technically your character to begin with, so you can't get mad if another person does the same thing.

 

never mind, please ignore.

 

I don't copy anyone's dolls but I wouldn't really be anything but flattered were somebody to copy the way one of my dolls looks. Course that would be just one outfit/wig etc cause my dolls are cosplayers. & because of that, I will have dolls that dress up as characters other people have done - like specifically Renji from Bleach. I in fact know there's another brilliant person out there who took one look at IH Bichun & recognized his secret identity (LOL). So that makes 2 different guys (dolls) who both cosplay the same character.... Because I guarantee that MY Renji's real character (when he's not cosplaying) is very unique. & anyone trying to copy my WRITING is plagarizing....