# how do brand name toy makers resist "knock-off" accessories? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 27, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-brand-name-toy-makers-resist-knock-off-accessories/579942 "2011-04-27T20:36:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![code\_grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@code\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/code_grey)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-brand-name-toy-makers-resist-knock-off-accessories/579942/1 "2011-04-27T20:36:05Z")
it’s easier for me to understand why a girl would want a “real” Barbie than why she would also want a whole bunch of clothing, cars and other accessories that come in a package with the Barbie label on it instead of some other cheaper label, let’s say based on “my Barbie is now in the savings mode to pay for her college” principle. Or why her parents would not put in some effort to promote such a money-saving idea. Which makes me wonder, are there in fact companies that specialize on selling accessories for popular expensive toys for a lot cheaper than what the brand owner itself sells similar accessories? If not, why not? ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-brand-name-toy-makers-resist-knock-off-accessories/579942/2 "2011-04-27T20:44:43Z")
I know people sew [del]Barbie[/del] 11.5 inch fashion doll clothing and sell it at craft fairs and the like. Although I don’t think they go for the ‘cheap knockoff’ route as much as the ‘better quality’ or ‘styles not available from the factory’ route. My mom did some for my sister at least, but didn’t sell much I think. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-brand-name-toy-makers-resist-knock-off-accessories/579942/3 "2011-04-27T20:52:16Z")
IIRC, Lego lost a battle in Canda over “trademark”. They argued their knobbies on the bricks were their trademark - therefore anyone who made toy bricks with knobby tops was violating trademark law. This was about all they could do - it’s well past patent expiry on those things, and copyright does not apply to physical design. The court disagreed, and apparently knock-off lego is legal in Canada (you just can’t call it “Lego”). Of course, afficionados will argue the fakes don’t have the same quality, feel, and stick factor as the real thing… ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-brand-name-toy-makers-resist-knock-off-accessories/579942/4 "2011-04-27T21:29:29Z")
> [@Darth\_Sensitive](#): > > I know people sew [del]Barbie[/del] 11.5 inch fashion doll clothing and sell it at craft fairs and the like. Although I don’t think they go for the ‘cheap knockoff’ route as much as the ‘better quality’ or ‘styles not available from the factory’ route. > > My mom did some for my sister at least, but didn’t sell much I think. I sewed a houpeland and tunica, an italian renn and an elizabethan for a 11.5, and then did a bunch of renns for some american girl dolls I had already given my goddaughters. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-brand-name-toy-makers-resist-knock-off-accessories/579942/5 "2011-04-27T21:37:50Z")
Craft fairs here in Virginia seem to have boatloads of “fits American Girl” doll clothes. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-brand-name-toy-makers-resist-knock-off-accessories/579942/6 "2011-04-27T21:40:03Z")
> [@code\_grey](#): > > Which makes me wonder, are there in fact companies that specialize on selling accessories for popular expensive toys for a lot cheaper than what the brand owner itself sells similar accessories? If not, why not? i don’t know if the companies specialize in it, but I saw lots of no-name clothes for “11.5 inch fashion dolls” during both my childhood and my daughter’s. I know I saw them at neighborhood toy/variety stores but I’m not sure about chains. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-brand-name-toy-makers-resist-knock-off-accessories/579942/7 "2011-04-27T21:50:52Z")
Under U.S. law, companies can’t for the most part use intellectual property law to prevent aftermarket accessories, so long as the aftermarket suppliers aren’t infringing any trademarks. They have to rely on their brand name and marketing prowess. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-brand-name-toy-makers-resist-knock-off-accessories/579942/8 "2011-04-27T22:45:44Z")
Way back in the day, I recall getting a non-Mattel pack of He-Man compatible weaponry, so it’s not just girl’s toys that get such attention. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-brand-name-toy-makers-resist-knock-off-accessories/579942/9 "2011-04-27T22:57:29Z")
[Megabloks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megabloks) put on their boxes, “Works with leading brand!” They don’t mention LEGO by name, but they make it clear that their product can be used interchangeably with LEGO. However they have a few design differences–their “flat” blocks are 1/2 height rather that 1/3 height like LEGO. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-brand-name-toy-makers-resist-knock-off-accessories/579942/10 "2011-04-27T23:16:22Z")
To answer the OP, they generally make superior accessories compared to the knock off brands and hope this is enough. IME it generally is. You can easily find no name GI Joe knock offs (both figures and accessories). They are the precisely the right size. They are also generally crap with little quality control and no durability. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-brand-name-toy-makers-resist-knock-off-accessories/579942/11 "2011-04-27T23:33:52Z")
> [@](#): > > I know people sew Barbie 11.5 inch fashion doll clothing and sell it at craft fairs and the like. Although I don’t think they go for the ‘cheap knockoff’ route as much as the ‘better quality’ or ‘styles not available from the factory’ route. My mom makes those, too. The main appeal seems to be the uniqueness: A girl going to prom wouldn’t want to be wearing the same dress as another girl, and by the same token, a girl wouldn’t want her Barbie going to prom wearing the same dress as another Barbie. As for the Lego case, one wouldn’t have expected them to win a trademark case, since the bumps are functional. In fact, I’d be a little surprised if the company lawyers let it even go to court at all, for that reason… Possibly there was something lost in translation, there? Each bump does have the Lego logo embossed on the end… Perhaps that’s what the case was actually about? Alternately, the design could be patented, but patents run out pretty quickly, which would also allow the off-brands onto the market. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-brand-name-toy-makers-resist-knock-off-accessories/579942/12 "2011-04-28T01:14:54Z")
There’s a lot of brand name recognition and loyalty in the toy market. Mattel can’t stop anybody from making doll clothes that happen to fit Barbie. They will go after trademark and copyright violations though. It’s the same for accessories for anything. You can get almost any car part from an alternate source. The Barbie vs. Bratz thing is something different. In that case Mattel claims the designer of the Bratz dolls worked for Mattel when he designed the Bratz dolls. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-brand-name-toy-makers-resist-knock-off-accessories/579942/13 "2011-04-28T01:27:38Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > As for the Lego case, one wouldn’t have expected them to win a trademark case, since the bumps are functional. In fact, I’d be a little surprised if the company lawyers let it even go to court at all, for that reason… Possibly there was something lost in translation, there? Each bump does have the Lego logo embossed on the end… Perhaps that’s what the case was actually about? Alternately, the design could be patented, but patents run out pretty quickly, which would also allow the off-brands onto the market. Lego was trying to say the shape of a 2x4 stud brick was a trademark (in the same sense as the McDonalds golden arches or the Nike swoosh). As you guessed, the courts ruled that was a matter for patent law, not trademark, and the patents had run out. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-brand-name-toy-makers-resist-knock-off-accessories/579942/14 "2011-04-28T03:38:57Z")
For the record, Megabloks have have smooth bump-tops, without anything embossed on them. And they sometimes have unique pieces that Lego doesn’t have. Back in the day, the biggest difference was that Megabloks used to have military vehicles with machine guns and rockets and such, while Lego had pirates and knights but no modern weapons. With all the new licensed Lego properties, you can find Lego guns and rockets and such nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-brand-name-toy-makers-resist-knock-off-accessories/579942/15 "2011-04-28T03:49:44Z")
American Girl dolls are 18" high, which is a pretty standard size now. You can get dolls of that size in many places. Michael’s, Target, and other stores sell clothes for 18" dolls, and lots of people sew them. I do sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-brand-name-toy-makers-resist-knock-off-accessories/579942/16 "2011-04-28T07:28:57Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Of course, afficionados will argue the fakes don’t have the same quality, feel, and stick factor as the real thing… I’m an afficionado, but it’s true!