China action against Toys imitations / bootleg

In the early days many would think China would not be supportive in cracking down bootleg imitations but recent years it seems China is supportive of cracking down bootleg.

Here are 3 oversea brands that China help to crack down the imitations.

LEGO
One of the popular toy line for all ages and no doubt it attract imitations. Because of the pricing, many supported them. In fact it has one that spawn out many brands in China.

For this case, LEGO was taken up in China Beijing and two companies that run the imitations as it copy LEGO from packaging design and logos lost.


It was a small step but a major one to see China authorities are taking some action on LEGO imitations.


Hasbro Transformers
Imitations of transformers in China have been years which use the likeness of the characters by given them a different name by different brand. However the likeness of the characters would have given it away by fans of Transformers.

According to some fans, these "third party" did more accuracy and better transformers with accessories. Some of the Transformers collectors would get it for the quality and pricing. Some of the fan noticed that because of the "third party" product existence, it also pushes Hasbro Transformers to move up the quality and design as well.

That being said, Hasbro has taken the action in 2017 and just last year Hasbro won the lawsuit with the supporting of Chinese Authorities. You can read more on that case here.

Here is Hasbro official press released for this case

There are still some other Transformers imitation out there but this is the first step.

Bandai Gunpla
Dragon Momoko was one of the famous brand that have quite a number of following because it was said they did improve some designs. Regardless it has operated for years.

When news of the crack down was out, many in the gunpla community did not believe it as this was the first time a Japanese company took against China imitation.

The result was the owner was jailed up to 3.5 years and fine for 1.9 million Yuan and all production closed.

That being said, Dragon Momoko is only one of many imitation of Gunpla in China. There are others but guess that is the warning shot to them.

So there you have it. Some of the toy brands are getting back some market share back and to see their interest are protected in some ways. As long as the brand company take action, I guess some result would happen even in China.

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