Dollfie: A Generic or Specific Term?

Dollfie was orginally a term coined by Volks to describe their 1/6 dollfies (doll+figure).
They then released the Super Dollfie: a big version that was made of better material and strung and using ball joints.
Since they were the first, the terms dollfie, and SD, and MSD have been used to describe that style of doll.
Kinda like how Disney princess dolls are called Barbies or pepole use q-tips to describe cottonswabs or whatever.

 

That was the best example XD

 

I think 'dollfie' is being used as a blanket term, but Volks really discourages it. And since there are people who also are involved with the 1/6 scale dolls to whom the term actually refers, it can be confusing. For clarity's sake, it's best to just use 'BJD' to cover the genre, and then the measurements to denote what doll size you mean. (Like 60cm instead of SD.)

 

Dollfie and Super Dollfie are legally trademarked terms by Volks. I believe Volks does not like the terms to be used generically. However, lots of people do. It's really up to the individual in the end. Personally I just use BJD or ABJD when referring to these types of dolls in general. If I'm talking about a specific brand, then I use that brand name.

 

On eBay, you're often going to see "Dollfie" referring to non-Volks dolls, simply because it's the brand that most people are familiar. It makes searching for stuff easier, even if it's not correct.

 

They discourage it any time the term is being used to sell something that is not made by them. It doesn't matter if someone thinks it helps or not, they've made it publically known that the term is trademarked and they don't appreciate it being used.

 

Basically - Dollfie are 1/6 articulated dolls+figures made by Volks. Super Dollfie are the resin versions also made by Volks. In general, BJD is the blanket term for all resin ball-jointed dolls in this particular style.

I think it should be pointed out that other companies do not refer to their dolls as "Dollfie" or even "Dollfie-like". CP/Luts uses "Delf", for instance, and CustomHouse uses "Ai". Clearly, the companies themselves have come up with their own terms to describe their dolls, just as Volks uses "Super Dollfie". Not all BJD are "Delf" or "Ai", so not all BJD should be called "Super Dollfie", either.

 

Like I stated earlier, the history is that it is made by Volks.
But, people are gonna use the term dollfie or Super Dollfie whether volks wants them to or not.

Not saying it is right, but when is the last time you heard someone say. "Could you hand me a facial tissue?" no you hear, "Could you hand me a kleenex."

Terms like Q-tip and Kleenex are copyrighted too, but people are gonna use.
That is just how languauge works. If you are the first to introduce an idea, the name you use will be what it is called by the public (not other companies because they can't legally).
That is just how it is. Companies can start the trend, but cannot control it.

 

to throw my two cents in, "Dollfie" is also a poor generic term because people who dont have volks dolls might like having their brand respected.

It's like the Cola wars. With Dolls. Like pepsi and coke are the same thing basically, there's enough diffrence to make a prefrence of one over the other, albeit an entierly personal prefrence.

When people call either my Dream of Doll or my Mythdoll a dolfie, I correct them.

 

I think what Lisa is trying to ask is something more like... if you were to start a business aimed at selling items for BJD's, would you be turned off if the business used the term "Dollfie" in it's name, even though the products are not specifically for Volks dolls? For example.... "Dollfie Dreams" or "Dollfie Designs"?

 

If you notice in this thread Valentine linked:
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38557

It discusses calling things SD-sized or MSD-sized. On the whole, it seems no one has an issue with saying something is Super Dollfie sized when selling things. So long as the item actually IS Super Dollfie sized that is. It's just calling a CH AI a "dollfie" that people don't like. I prefer to call the actual dolls by what they are.

Well I think it would be a bad idea to call any legit business anything with "dollfie" in it. Like I said, it's a tradmarked term. It's better to come up with an original name. However, say if you are selling clothes or wigs and say they are "SD-sized". That's fine. I don't see a problem with that, so long as the things actually fit Super Dollfie!

 

I agree, I don't think the Volks company enjoys the fact that dollfie has become a blanket term across the bjd community, but that seems to be the case to me. It's kinda like when you ask for a Kleenex intead of a tissue, you're using the brand instead of the generic term because it's more familar or understood. OK, that's my two cents...

 

The reality for Volks is that if their trademarked terms Dollfie or Super Dollfie become the "name" used for all dolls of this type, no matter which company manufactures them, they will lose the rights to their trademark and the term will become a generic, non-exclusive name that any company can use. Thus most companies take action to protect their trademarks, even though it may seem that it would hurt the awareness of their brand to do so. It is only their brand because they have taken steps to protect it.

Though customers may use the term to search for information (such as searching Ebay for dollfie) and find more entries than searching for BJD, Volks can legally stop sellers from using the term in their advertising. Though, likely they would not take legal action unless the competitor was very blatant about the usage.

Even the Olympics stops others from using the term "Olympics" in the name of something they haven't approved. Some twenty years ago I was involved with national school competition called "Olympics of the Mind." This competition was forced by the Olympics to stop using the name. It is now known as "Odyssey of the Mind."

So it wouldn't violate trademark laws to post doll clothes for sale and state that they fit "Super Dollfie," but it would be probably be wrong to advertise them as "Super Dollfie Clothes."

 

Have you ever went to a restaurant and asked for "Coke" and they replied "We don't carry Coke, but is Pepsi OK?"
That is Coca-cola actively trying to protect their trademark "Coke" from becoming a generic term. If the restaurant gave Pepsi instead of Coca-cola without the disclaimer (and does so constantly), Coca-cola will sue the restaurant for misuse of its trademark.

Volks may not be as active (that may change) but that doesn't make it right to use "dollfie" as a blanket term. In a legit business, (though I don't specialize in legal stuff, I just had a seminar on patents and copyrights) I would think it is very risky (or outright illegal) to use a trademarked name without permission.

I agree with Zalem that using SD-sized or MSD-sized or "Super Dollife-like" would be enough to reach the wide audience. After all, all the generic drug brands have a little caption that says "compare with ingredients from (insert brandname drug here)TM" without ill-effects.