Would you buy a plagiarized doll/design? (not a recast)

...I'm rather curious how one can own clothing designs but that's probably my ignorance speaking.

Doll-wise, if there's proof someone plagiarized the design beyond a doubt, I wouldn't buy it- assuming I knew ahead of time. I'd rather just buy the original. I wouldn't tell people not to buy from them but I personally would not do so.

 

Ah okay, that makes sense. I was imagining basic designs like a plain shirt or a dress.

 

That depends on whether or not I'm aware that what I'm going to buy has been plagiarized. If I am aware, I won't buy it. If not, I would look around first. That said, pertaining to anime/manga/video-game outfits, I would likely commission a seamstress instead since I would want an exact replica, not something that looks similar.

 

I would buy the one which looked nicer to me, I don't like the face's on DustofDolls bjd's I like the faces of Leekeworld better. I know what you are talking about, you art talking about the art body. I have actually wanted a hybrid with that body since I started the hobby. I think if I did come to do it I would look at both and because one is ripped off from the other they shouldn't be much difference so it would probably come down to price and location. And I think DustofDolls in french so I would probably end up going for the DustofDolls as long as the resin was right and stuff.

EDIT
I just took a look on DustofDolls and they only seem to do YOSD and tinies now, and most of my characters are MSD size so I would actually go for Leekeworld because their art body would suit my needs better.

 

Morally I'm on the fence because I realize it is art and if someone copied my art and sold the copy I wouldn't be best pleased and I would like to say I wouldn't buy into it BUT i can't help but think practically as a consumer I would like the one which is more pleasing and fits my needs better. I could buy DustofDoll's YOSD's till I was blue in the face but it wouldn't change the fact it wouldn't fit what I wanted for the character. and since the DOD alternative doesn't seem to be available anymore I would pretty much have to go with Leekeworld unless the DOD body surfaced in the marketplace.

What I'm trying to say is it's very hard to remove morals from practicality in this case.

 

not providing legal advice, but re. selling LV bags, counterfeits are illegal because of the LV trademark. one could sell all the brown bags with beige trim they want, as long as they don't claim to be "LV". That leg joint that DoD claimed, and the pear shape, to me, they're recognizable in dolls and photos by German artist Hans Bellmer (13 March 1902 – 23 February 1975). That pear shape also reminded me of the venus of willendorf from 28k years ago... Anyway, I don't know if DoD is pursuing legal recourse, but just because something is "registered" as an "intellectual property" doesn't mean the claim will actually hold up in court...

 

Well, this is complicated because there are some supposed plagiarisms that it is not clear if they are plagiarized or not. There are obvious cases but there are others not so obvious. I remember, many years ago, that Dollzone was accused of plagiarism... I think that it was Volks SD16 that was plagiarized. At that time, even dollzone dolls were banned. I don't know if the ban continues because I don't come here very often but sometimes I think about that case because it started a wave of plagiarism accusations. Sometimes it was not so clear, many dolls look alike but there was no reason to think that were copies.
So I would wait until the case is clarified and well proved plagiarism and I wouldn't buy the copy. Copies usually are not as good as the original idea, not to mention that is a crime against intellectual property.

 

It would depend entirely on whether it was known plagiarism or speculated, as well as what other items the company had for sale. As I've already owned a Leekeworld girl at one point, my perspective on unconfirmed plagiarism is fairly clear. Until it can be proven, I like to leave a margin for 'benefit of the doubt' if the company or person has proven trustworthy in the past, and there is no blatant evidence outside of the similarities between the final products in question.

However, if the second product was proven to be a copy, if not an actual recast, I would be sorely hesitant to purchase it or anything else from the company. Even if I did choose to continue to give the company my money, it would likely be a case of needing/wanting something other than the controversial item which I felt I could only acquire from them. As a performance and visual artist, I find blurring the lines between 'inspired by' and 'stolen' a very thin and treacherous tightrope to walk, and yet many still do. Knowing that a company as small and generally original as a BJD manufacturer felt the apparent need to take another's design would severely kill my confidence in them, and my interest in providing them with business.

However, if I were to purchase a plagiarized doll or product, fall in love with it, and then find out about the controversy afterwards, there is a high probability I would keep the aforementioned product or doll and continue to enjoy it. Any new rules about posting its likeness on DoA and similar communities would be followed accordingly, but I would see no reason to destroy or sell a perfectly good product I purchased out of ignorance.

 

Yes, I'm from Spain! *yay hello*
Well, the case was many years ago. If you investigate when SD16 Yukinojo Sawaragi was released by Volks, you will have a clue about when it happened.
At that time, even if I haven't said nothing about the case, a girl who owned the Dollzone doll got very angry at me because I was looking close to her doll. I had a friend with a Yukinojo so, at that time, to me, it was a very obvious case of plagiarism. Many people who bought Dollzone dolls (I don't remember the name of that doll) got very angry. Volks owners and Dollzone owners started fighting. I was caught inside because of having Volks dolls but I never criticized Dollzone owners.

 

@varebanos let's not 2 lawyers argue about interpretation of IP laws here, especially since we come from different jurisdictions - you spain, me US. I also didn't disagree that selling fake LV is illegal; I was merely pointing out the trademark infringement that made it inherently illegal. In fact, I would argue copying, say, an X-men outfit is still illegal copying, because that is an IP owned by Marvel.

Also pointing out that just because 2 independent creations appear the same doesn't always mean that one is a copy of the other. Also, not everything is a protect-able intellectual property in the eyes of the applicable law. As for what's "moral", you guys in the EU actually have "moral rights" which as an artist and advocate, I wish we had here. That said, when we talk about "values and principles held by specific societies", relativism occurs.

Anyway, to be directly on point re. your question - if it is proven or if I'm convinced beyond reasonable doubt that plagiarism exists, then it is indeed a deal breaker for me. It has to be.

(again, purely academic discussion - not offering legal advice)

 

[MENTION=69510]varebanos[/MENTION] I'm glad to be the first person you meet here!
I was investigating and that old ban is removed, this shoud be because the doll is discontinued.
BUT there's another Dollzone doll banned for having plagiarized fairyland doll.
There are some interesting cases if you go to the gallery rules and check the banned dolls section.

 

@varebanos Generally, I think "IP" is a product of social policy and while there are specific legal rights and wrongs, there are many more things in between. Helping big companies fight each other pays the bills, but I prefer to make sure artists can walk the tightrope @Loptr mentioned while protecting themselves from usually more powerful IP owners, but sometimes also against infringements.

While I'm familiar with the Volks vs Dollzone controversy, I'm not familiar with the specific banned dolls and the designs that had allegedly been copied. One seemingly more clear cut case to my knowledge was the derivative dolls made of Dollshe's sculpts and it was interesting to read http://www.denofangels.com/forums/s...ore-copy-issue-*translated-statement-page-27*