Really, Dollmore? Blatant Kuroshitsuji rip-off

Hmm. I definitely see the resemblance... pink dress, how the doll's hair is in pigtails, even covering the eye with the hat like Ciel does in lieu of his eye patch.

But in all fairness, Ciel's outfit does resemble Audrey Hepburn's in "My Fair Lady," too. There are differences, obviously. But perhaps that was also an inspiration for the design.

http://i.ehow.com/images/GlobalPhoto/Articles/4526766/AudreyHepburnMyFairLady_Full.jpg

Dollmore's design looks more like the dress in Kuroshitsuji.

I really don't know what to think. I know I would never want someone to use my designs without permission. I know imitation is the greatest form of flattery (so they say), but still. All I know is I would not buy a design I know is a blatant copy unless credit/permission is given.

 

I see the resemblance, but the story could've gone both ways.
Either Kuroshitsuji got the dress design from dollmore or dollmore got the dress design from Kuroshitsuji. If dollmore didn't get permission, I doubt the dress would be up there for that long.

 

...Um, no....? The dress from Dollmore came out way after the dress appeared in Kuroshitsuji. There's really no arguing that the manga might have been the one to rip off of Dollmore.

Dollmore has ADMITTED that the dress was modelled after the one in Kuroshitsuji. I think it's deplorable and sickening that so many people say "Well, I sure wouldn't want someone ripping off of MY work-but hooray for this other company doing the same to someone else, I'm going to buy it!"

 

If it was that cut and dried, why hasn't the mangaka or publisher issued Dollmore with a cease-and-desist?

 

It's too bad for the original creator. But it's nice for people who want to buy that sort of thing for their doll.

 

Has it occurred to anyone that the manga-ka may not even care? At all? The manga-ka doesn't design dresses. They make comics. They never would have and never will consider making a few dozen giant doll dresses based, with small differences, on an outfit a character wore on ONE OCCASION (it's not even the main outfit associated with that character), and as such are losing nothing.

And if you think the manga-ka will (or should) care, then I suggest you write to the publisher and the manga-ka outlining to them why you feel they should care and how it's negatively affecting them.

Didn't everyone's favourite Soom do that at one point? I remember some of the early limiteds (whole dolls, not even outfits) were based on game art, and I quite clearly remember that at first, no credits were given. A few days later they magically appeared, in tiny text, at the bottom of some more obvious pictures.

And this is me speaking from my perspective, but if one of my comics got as famous and popular as Kuroshitsuji, and some doll company decided that one of my one-occasion side outfits (not the signature character one), which take about an hour tops to create, was interesting enough to make a doll outfit of, I don't think I'd care. Probably at most request an acknowledgment somewhere.

 

I know where you're coming from with this, but no matter how one feels about it, legally they would have had to obtained permission. Also, typically if some company wants to make something from someone else's property, the creator has every right to demand royalities.

 

Oh, I'm fully aware of that - and frankly if the creator of Kuroshitsuji demanded tomorrow that Dollmore either needs to pay royalties or cease and desist, I would think that it's entirely within their right to do so and would applaud them for taking a stand for their copyrights. My issue is not with the owner of the original design and whether Dollmore acted entirely legally. My issue is with all these angry raging Kuroshitsuji fans who come in here damning Dollmore and all of those who like the company to all depths of hell when a) they're not the first or the last or the most offending company to do so and b) the original creator who has actual legitimate reasons to get angry may not even care. (by the way, I have never bought/most likely never will buy anything from Dollmore, nor am I a great fan of unoriginal outfit designs)

I used to read Kuroshitsuji, but I wasn't that big of a fan and the rage of some people in this thread has turned me off from the series completely.

 

Oh boy. This dress doesn't bother me that much, but tons of Dollmore's stuff is so derivative now you can usually find something exactly like it in a few seconds of googling. Including their dolls, IMHO.

I think they're one of the main companies making the doll market so oversaturated. It's not that I don't like diversity. I just remember when diversity was created by doll owners and not by doll companies. Back when everyone had an SD10 4sisters and they all looked totally different.

I bought a Dollmore doll way back when (Dean). He's lovely, but I never liked him as much as my other dolls, even though I was totally in love with him enough to buy him. I didn't even take him with me when I moved out from my parents, and recently I gave him to someone IRL.

Eh... I dunno. I feel like this is just another symptom of creativity dying down in the doll hobby. I'm not saying this of everyone, but...yeah. It's just how I feel.

 

I dont think there are any legal means to stop someone from copying a 2D print and making it a 3d product. If there was all those cosplay sites making money off of the designs from games, anime, and manga would be in huge legal trouble.

Though yes, Dollmore copiedthe dress design. All over their site are items using copyrighted images/designs. Such as hello kitty and Jack skellington

 

There may be more variety in dolls and more company made clothes available, but it's the owners putting together the sculpt, wig, eyes, clothing combinations that make bjds unique. The same sculpt will still look different in the hands of various owners. There may be more available, but the basic bjd concepts haven't changed--owners are still creating diversity.

I don't know, their dolls look pretty distinct to me--whether or not they appeal to you, well that's an individual sort of thing. Where exactly are you seeing all the creativity dying down? I'm seeing it everywhere with all the photoshoots, faceups, people sewing and modding, writing dolly fiction, and creating photo stories. Now any one person isn't necessarily going to do all of those things, but this hobby at it is now is a highly creative one, and I'm not sure how you're coming to these conclusions exactly or how Dollmore supposedly ties into any of it.

 

QFT.
additional:
Lack of 'creativity', like so many other things: if you're not a part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Instead of kvetching about it, how's about going and doing something creative, or showing your support for those whose efforts you do find creative?

From personal experience, nothing slaughters creativity faster than negativity, pettiness, and complaining; positive, open-minded and fun-loving attitudes inspire creativity and help it to thrive, even in difficult times.

 

My--the resemblance was a bit more dramatic than I expected it to be. O.o"
In fact, those outfits are exactly the same. @.@"

However, the truth is that doll companies do this pretty frequently, as far as I know. @.@" People are always dredging up some resemblance or another--and rather it's an exact replica or a vague resemblance, it's almost always there.
A good portion of the time, it's just flat out hard to control copyright between countries. (This is why it's so easy to get free online TV through different countries!) I see doll companies use a lot of designs from a lot of places, and in the end I really just don't think there's A LOT we can do about it. >.>"

Honestly, I'm guilty of the same thing. XD I often go to websites for inspiration on various outfits and whatnot that I've drawn and/or sewn--I mean, I'm not making money from any of it, but if I do it, who's to stop these doll companies? @.@

 

There will never be consensus on this topic. There are several reasons.

1) Those who tend to gravitate towards BJDs, but certainly not all, tend to be individualistic - they don't want the same doll as everyone else. They want to be "original" and express themselves as individuals. So, when they see a similarity between a picture and a dress they get upset because they no longer see this outfit as an expression of individuality and sympathize with the original creator who made it to express him or herself.

2) Those who love the manga may see this dress as a promotion of their favorite comic book. This could be both positive or negative depending on one's perspective. A person could possibly see it as a way to promote something they want to love and share. Or a person could see it as a way of "mainstreaming" something they don't want to see mainstreamed. But irregardless, from a legal standpoint only the actual manga creator's view is relevant when considering legal action.

3) There is also the issue of law. As stated previously, many posts ago, the laws here are on Dollmore's side. Dollmore's enfringement on copyright is a morally gray issue, but legally not so much. If Dollmore copied another BJD company's outfit, yes, this would be an issue. If a competing manga comic copied the drawing, yes, this would be an issue. But, if Dollmore chooses to be "inspired" by manga and creates outfits then this is technically not a black and white issue so may not be worth pursuing financially particularly based on a single dress. Dollmore will likely produce the oufit once and then stop unlike Volks (which has also been mentioned) that has a reoccurring theme of dresses that helps make the company a lot of money. It sounds like Volks struck up a partnership for longer term gain and Dollmore is utilizing the manga inspiration for short-term and hence limited financial gain. But, I could be mistaken and am speculating on the difference between Dollmore and Volks there.

Personally, I feel bad for artists whose designs are "ripped-off" in any medium, but the truth is that as an individual I can gripe about it all I want - nothing will likely change. The best thing I can do is exercise my right as a consumer to buy or not to buy and perhaps voice my concerns with the company in question - Dollmore.

Interesting discussions, though.

 

well if they didn't get permission they still would not be around I guess. O_o

I find that really surprising though

 

It would be nice if they admitted that it was less like the one Audrey Hepburn's dress and more like Ceil's, but I would probably still end up buying it.

 

Personally? I think it's a very lovely dress, but when I look at the Audrey Hepburn dress, I'm having a bit of trouble trying to piece it together. Maybe I'm just blind, dumb, clueless, or Dollmore got the credentials wrong. I haven't even heard of Kuroshitsuji until I saw this thread, and I still don't have much interest beyond the clothing of the main character. As far as the dress goes, I think it's a pretty dress and I've considered buying it for one of my MSD-sized girls. I really don't think there will be a concrete solution to this, so it's more or less your decision. If you love the dress and want it on your doll, then by all means buy it.

 

It is very cute! But that is just wrong! They could have said something about it being based on the character!

 

For all of the whiners...Think about it reeeeaaal carefully...Ciel NEVER wore that outfit again..Does it seriously matter? I mean do you seriously wanna make others who might wanna get it suffer and not be able to buy it and instead have to find tutorials or patterns to size down?

Think about it...It doesn't look exactly alike and Kuroshitsuji uses the clothing of it's timeline. That's 18th/19th century style. It's not really ripping anything off.

 

Hmm... I don't even think they're making a dress "based off of it", I get the feeling they actually WANT kuroshitsuji fans to recognize the dress and get it to make a "girl Ciel". Of course, I could be wrong since I haven't seen the original dress it was based on. But the way they cover the right eye with the hat just can't be a coincidence right..?

I do feel that they should credit the original source, if it really isn't based off "My Fair Lady" that is. But I've seen this dress being "ripped-off" so often that it almost doesn't seem to matter anymore... >_> This is the first time I've seen it for dolls, but there are LOTS of copies and 'versions' of this dress out there for cosplayers (and a lot of them don't actually say it's from Kuroshitsuji).