Copyright infringement?

[Elephas Maximus]

Hello everyone,
I've stumbled across lots of Chinese figures that were obviously molded from those by respective companies and sold as original ones.
For example, enter 'Starz animal toy' at Aliexpress and see some for yourself.

And those soft vinyl ones are sold in my country (Chinese origin as well despite going under Russian brand).

Schleich sow & piglet



Schleich retired male African elephant and (not long ago) retired calf



Possibly Mojo giraffes

[sbell]

Unfortunately, this is pretty normal stuff. Schleich and Papo appear to be copies the most, with Safari close behind. But I have seen copies of many Japanese companies too.

[AnimalToyForum]

Yes, they are bootlegs. It is almost impossible to stop this happening.

But, I think it is still important to generate a list of examples, which might help in some way. At the very least it could raise it to the attention of the companies being copied.

[Elephas Maximus]

But, I think it is still important to generate a list of examples, which might help in some way. At the very least it could raise it to the attention of the companies being copied.

The companies may be aware of it and regard bootleg production as inevitable 'evil', just like with media piracy. Law enforcement for gazillion of small cases is too complicated and not worth the effort (adding the international aspect), so not all copyright holders make fuss.
Moreover, with China goods, you can't realy tell a retailer from manufacturer.

For collectors, bootlegs may be somewhat useful. First, to practice repaint without risk of spoiling a more valuable item, and second, opportunity of getting a retired figure (though it looks like only ABC species are covered).
About a list... let's start with ID of following figures:

Mojo?


This lion set exists in Russia with Schleich versions as well


Donkeys seem to be Schleich, and horses?


Not sure about this moose, bootleg or not


At least 2 Schleich cats (top right, bottom left)


Looks like Schleich retired moose and wild rabbit.


One of forest sets

Schleich howling wolf

[sauroid]

according to old timer collectors, this has been going on since the first plastic animal toys appeared in the market, with Hong Kong being the originators of plagiarism, followed by mainland China after the reunification.

[Elephas Maximus]

My new bootleg of Collecta bumblebee.
Painted differently from original, tip of abdomen is black instead of white.

The underside is unpainted, without any writing, and eyes are painted red over black.
Both original & bootleg have inaccurate anatomy: male traits (long antennae, lack of prominent mandibles) combined with female sting.

[Elephas Maximus]

Google 'Newbifo animal' images to see a ton of bootlegs.

[AnimalToyForum]

Late reply, I'm catching up on old threads. What company is NewBifo copying here?

[sbell]

Late reply, I'm catching up on old threads. What company is NewBifo copying here?

The ones in the photo definitely look like Schleich models.

In a search, there are definite CollectA, Colorata and Safari as well.

[Elephas Maximus]

A bootleg company called Derri Animals appeared recently in Russia.
Schleich elephants

[Sable Antelope]

No one is going to acknowledge the random guy grinning on the packaging?

[Gwangi]

No one is going to acknowledge the random guy grinning on the packaging?

He looks particularly worrisome on the pig package.

[Elephas Maximus]

No one is going to acknowledge the random guy grinning on the packaging?

Not so random guy)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Zatevakhin_(TV_presenter)
Now the brand name has changed a bit and his image & tv show name are not used anymore.
Here is a number of retired Schleich bootlegs

[Elephas Maximus]

Found a bootleg of AAA Monitor lizard. It's in perfect condition if year is really the same as labelled!

[Gwangi]

Interesting, I didn't know bootlegs of those toys ever existed.

[bmathison1972]

Interesting, I didn't know bootlegs of those toys ever existed.

Oh yeah, AAA bootlegs are very common. Or, more likely, AAA shared its molds with other distributors. I have seen lots of AAA crabs and other sealife in gift shops, especially in coastal areas (LA, FL) and my guess is AAA produced them for other distributors, rather than being true bootlegs or knockoffs

[NSD Bashe]

I'm curious if that T.M. is a Toy Major stamp or just a trademark symbol..

[bmathison1972]

I'm curious if that T.M. is a Toy Major stamp or just a trademark symbol..

that's Toy Major. Toy Major and AAA collaborated a lot, at least I assume it was a valid collaboration. I have some large insects that follow suit.

[Elephas Maximus]

I'm curious if that T.M. is a Toy Major stamp or just a trademark symbol..

that's Toy Major. Toy Major and AAA collaborated a lot, at least I assume it was a valid collaboration. I have some large insects that follow suit.

So it's not really a bootleg. Still poorer quality than original AAA model.
Overall shape is a bit distorted, seams are much more obvious, especially joint between front & back parts glued together. Also it lacks in texture, because of thick paint layer and another type of plastic used (peach colored rather than greyish for original)
It has no tongue (or any trace of it if it was torn off) but mammal-like ridges on palate.

[NSD Bashe]

Noticed Aliexpress now has its "own" version of the CollectA anglerfish, but with the illicium bent down over its nose to make it "distinct" from the CollectA one       for some reason it's really funny to me