Hello,

Today I have some bad and good news.

You may have heard or seen posts about it on Facebook or Twitter. The bad news is that there are people who have no shame and steal ideas and profits from hard-working doll artists! Those companies acquire artist’s original (ball jointed) dolls, copy them by making moulds and recasting, and eventually sell the illegal reproductions as their own creations.

This blatant robbery affects many, many artists all over the world, who often spend weeks, months, even years, creating an original doll design and executing it. It is most unfair that doll artists (or any artists) would have their work stolen this way and be robbed of profits, which rightfully belong ONLY to them!

Doll artists very often find it difficult to have enough money to live of their work, so it is incredibly cruel to impose even more financial difficulties on them. Everyone, regardless of the field they work in, deserves to have their ideas credited as their own and concepts acknowledged as their intellectual property. Mistakes happen, of course, as the law might be hard to follow in its every aspect. However, I believe that it is very easy to understand that if a person (or company) copies someone else’s design, reproduces it, and sells as their own- that is nothing else but THEFT.

Not to mention something incredibly important! THE QUALITY of counterfeit is never close to the original!!! Poor replicas and stolen designs are 99% of the time of very low quality, which can discourage both new and long-term collectors from their wonderful hobby!

I personally cannot discourage you from buying counterfeits, as it is your choice.

Lightpainted Dolls’ quality speaks for itself and my clients and doll collectors appreciate it. They want the best they can get. 

If you buy recast dolls, you pay for inferior quality, bad technology, and a low quality resin, which very often is not even polyurethane but polyester (a much cheaper, poor version of resin, which is a bad choice for ball jointed dolls). The posing of those dolls is usually appalling, if not impossible, the resin- far less durable and unpleasant to the touch (especially in comparison with the original!). 

Buy a recast doll and you will find out the hard way.

I believe that you deserve the best!

Don’t you?

Besides, does it really feel good to sponsor theft? If you buy recast dolls, you are effectively destroying this wonderful hobby and art form. 

The good news is that there is someone who is working really hard to help doll artists just out of the kindness of their heart. In fact, many wonderful people are already involved in this project!

Everyone helping to fight illegal reproduction and all doll artists could really use your help!

We can all contribute to fighting recasting companies by spotting recast dolls and reporting them to ebay, Paypal and/or any other relevant body. They are not oblivious to the fact that some companies copy other people’s works and sell them as their own!

That practice is illegal and neither eBay, nor Paypal (or  any other genuine company!) will want to take part or support theft of any kind!!!

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?

It’s easy!

Below is a form to fill out. You can copy and paste it. Remove the explanations and put in the necessary information.

One of the biggest issues Paypal and eBay have is our language in the BJD world.

Much of what we understand is totally foreign to them. They cannot help if they have no way of knowing what we are referring to. So please avoid collectors specialist language or expect eBay or Paypal teams to know where to look for evidence, such as original photos stolen of the artist’s website etc.

Providing examples will quickly help them understand why an auction is selling counterfeits (on eBay, for instance, but it can be any website).

FORM TO REPORT COUNTERFEIT (to eBay/Paypal/Etsy etc.)- please delete the statements written here in green and provide the relevant information. Thank you.

Reporting Type : Counterfeit, recast, illegal reproduction, stolen photos… (pick one or write your own, understandable for everyone, SHORT DESCRIPTION)

Why is it… (recast, illegal reproduction, stolen photos)? Here explain in detail why this is counterfeit, so that eBay and Paypal understand. Explain about the price difference from the original (recast dolls are usually much cheaper), use original company photos, include the artist’s website address. Include things said in the auction’s description, such as: “Cannot be shown on Den of Angels” (explain what DoA is) etc… Use anything you can say to make them understand!

Website Address: Here put the URL of the eBay auction or the website selling counterfeit dolls, which uses Paypal as their payment method. We can report those too!!!

Supporting Documentation:
Here write the website address of the original company. Try to give the URL that has a photograph of the doll listed on eBay/Etsy/someone’s website.

You can also  send an email here or here.

The report/information will be forwarded to the risk and fraud people at relevant bodies (such as Paypal).

REMEMBER, ALL YOUR HELP IS PRICELESS!!!

THANK YOU!

Read more…

Dear friends, artists and collectors!

I am taking part in The Dolls Magazine Cover Contest on Facebook.

If you’re fond of my work, please support me and “like” my post on the Dolls Magazine Facebook wall- this will help my entry for a Dollmaker Cover Contest!

CLICK ON THE PHOTO BELOW- it’ll take you to the right place. Please click “like” there.

DON’T JUST “LIKE” THIS POST- YOUR “LIKE’S” ARE ONLY VALID IF YOU ACTUALLY DO THE ABOVE AND “LIKE” ON THE WALL OF THE DOLLS MAGAZINE BELOW MY PHOTOGRAPH!

Thank you so much!!! :) xxx

Witajcie! Jeśli podobają Wam się moje lalki, kliknijcie proszę na zdjęcie, a następnie na “Lubię/Like” poniżej. Biorę udział w konkursie i bardzo przydałoby mi się Wasze wsparcie! :) Dziękuję bardzo!!! ♥

Здравствуйте,

Пожалуйста поддержите мою работу.

Нажмите на фото НИЖЕ!

- Это займет вас в нужное место. Пожалуйста, нажмите “LIKE” там, не здесь.

Большое спасибо!

Илона

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151136532186425&set=o.87164551577&type=1&theater

http://lightpainteddoll.ru/

S’IL VOUS PLAIT CLIQUER SUR LA PHOTO DE AXANA ET si vous l’aimez CLIQUER sur” j’aime ” je la présente pour le concours de couverture de DOLLS MAGAZINE, merci mille fois mes amis !!!!

Charlotte (Axana) by bunnyshaw13, a photo by cureilona of Lightpainted Doll on Flickr.

Client’s photos of my porcelain ball jointed dolls.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilona_lightpainting/sets/72157629594609208/

http://Lightpainteddoll.com/

Charlotte (Axana) by bunnyshaw13, a photo by cureilona of Lightpainted Doll on Flickr.

Client’s photos of my porcelain ball jointed dolls.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilona_lightpainting/sets/72157629594609208/

http://Lightpainteddoll.com/

Charlotte (Axana) by bunnyshaw13, a photo by cureilona of Lightpainted Doll on Flickr.

Client’s photos of my porcelain ball jointed dolls.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilona_lightpainting/sets/72157629594609208/

http://Lightpainteddoll.com/

Charlotte (Axana) by bunnyshaw13, a photo by cureilona of Lightpainted Doll on Flickr.

Client’s photos of my porcelain ball jointed dolls.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ilona_lightpainting/sets/72157629594609208/

http://Lightpainteddoll.com/