[FascinatinatedFright]

I fell in love with Morbid Enterprises' "2-Headed Toddler Girl" rag doll, due to its unique Burtonian creepiness and its quirky design.

So, of course, it wasn't original.
Doing a quick search for "2-headed rag doll" directed me to this artist, Jodi Cain, who makes twisted dolls as a hobby, with their signature style being identical to Morbid's product. While I loved the Morbid doll, I can't say I'm happy that yet another talented artist is having her style copied and sold to the masses. Does anyone actually own the Morbid one?

 

[RCIAG]

I don't own the Morbid one but thanks for letting us know about this artist. I love her Christmas ornaments!

 

[TheHalloweenGuru]

WHAT!? Morbid is ripping off people? What a SHOCKER *sarcasm*

 

[disembodiedvoice]

I don't own the Morbid one, actually this is the first time I'm seeing it BUT that other one by the artist is the cats *** ! I would love that one, like seriously, i feel I need it lol If the Morbid one looked like that I would have it asap. That artist is great, thanks for the link !

 

[IshWitch]

I've seen this so often, it's such a shame

 

[FascinatinatedFright]

While it may not be very productive, I have emailed Ms. Cain about the issue so that she knows what has happened. I don't want her to be in the dark about it.

 

[Hilda]

The artist you mentioned is very cool! I am sure she will appreciate the exposure.

 

[FascinatinatedFright]

Here's her response:

Hello,

Thank you very much for being a fan of my work I appreciate the heads up on the two headed toddler girl... WOW that really pisses me off! Unfortunately they made her with enough differences that she is not a direct copy of my original design therefore not so much protected under the copyright law... unfortunately it just makes them *******s and pretty much all I can do it badmouth them for it... sigh.

Thank you again for letting me know... I really do appreciate your taking the time for that
Jodi

She's currently trying to find the doll to see if they weren't soulless enough to deny her credit.

 

[TheHalloweenGuru]

Here's her response:

Hello,

Thank you very much for being a fan of my work I appreciate the heads up on the two headed toddler girl... WOW that really pisses me off! Unfortunately they made her with enough differences that she is not a direct copy of my original design therefore not so much protected under the copyright law... unfortunately it just makes them *******s and pretty much all I can do it badmouth them for it... sigh.

Thank you again for letting me know... I really do appreciate your taking the time for that
Jodi

She's currently trying to find the doll to see if they weren't soulless enough to deny her credit.

I found one, just sent her a email
https://ledchristmaslighting.com/in...=36862&zenid=36a4450e65932d4cba49553ac35542f4

 

[FascinatinatedFright]

I didn't want to be talking to the walls, but she already found one, and sufficient evidence that it infringes on her designs. She's already taken the first step and sent a cease-and-desist.

 

[Jodi Cain]

Hi guys... just wanted to stop by and say how much I really appreciate being contacted about the two headed toddler girl doll that upon further inspection is without a doubt a direct rip off of the Siamese Twin Doll that I designed and sold back in 2010 in my Etsy shop. I probably never would have known about it without your thoughtfulness!

I found the doll for sale but sold out on 5 different websites and I was contacted this morning with a link to a site that has 1000 of the dolls in stock... I have sent a Cease and Desist letter to Morbid Enterprises and I am in talks with a copyright infringement lawyer as well.



Also I wanted to share a picture of my original doll...

Jodi

 

[FascinatinatedFright]

Looking at the two, I can assert that yours is much better. You can see the malice and creepiness in your doll, but the ripoff twins look slightly confused, like they had a gas attack and don't know who to blame due to their shared body!
I'm glad you were able to defend your work, and I feel glad to have alerted you. Perhaps this story will have a happy ending...

 

[TheHalloweenGuru]

I don't think I'm ever buying from Morbid again

 

[Kelloween]

Jodi's looks so much better made, but I have to say..there are many two headed dolls out there...but I guess they are not being mass produced..

 

[FascinatinatedFright]

Jodi's looks so much better made, but I have to say..there are many two headed dolls out there...

So are you just ignoring the obvious infringement on the visual design? The faces are identical, and the bows and dress are similar. There are differences in the more Raggedy Ann-like hands and feet, and in the hair and clothes, but it clearly borrows too much from Jodi's trademark style.

 

[Kelloween]

So are you just ignoring the obvious infringement on the visual design? The faces are identical, and the bows and dress are similar. There are differences in the more Raggedy Ann-like hands and feet, and in the hair and clothes, but it clearly borrows too much from Jodi's trademark style.

NO, I am saying Jodi's looks so much better made and there are a lot of 2 headed dolls out there...I was giving Jodi a compliment on hers being better than the many others out there...but I am not going to bad mouth whoever "Morbid" is..(I have no idea if they or she or he copied..)

 

[FascinatinatedFright]

Oh, okay. Morbid refers to Halloween company Morbid Enterprises, who makes props and other decorations for retailers.

 

[Kelloween]

I went and looked..now I recall seeing some of their dolls on Pinterest, I had no idea it was a company, I thought it was just a person who made dolls! lol

 

[The Halloween Lady]

Sadly this is not the first time this has happened to Halloween artists, nor will it be the last. I definitely do NOT approve this, but unfortunately it's almost impossible to stop. (and manufacturers know it!) Even when someone goes to the trouble to copyright or obtain a trademark for their item, people can usually get around it if they make minor changes to the original. Another issue that complicates this with "seasonal" or broad based based cultural type images is that unless an item is so so SOOOOOO different, one of a kind, or completely new, this stuff usually falls into the vast sinkhole of public domain thereby making it difficult to win cases based on violation of intellectual property rights, or "infringement". In other words no one owns clowns, so unless you've made a Vulcan clown with glowing dayglo blue skin, that does somthing never before seen by man, it would probably prove difficult to win. Even sadder yet, this becomes explimentially more difficult to win such cases when you're a small artist going up against the deep pockets of large companies and corporations. Heck... There have even been a few instances that I know of between fellow forum members each of whom are small business owners going up against each other.
I genuinely wish Jodi well.

Take a look at the links I have included. It shows some pretty blatant rip offs of items made by our friends and fellow Halloween artists.

http://shellhawksnest.blogspot.com/2014/08/another-year-another-halloween-artist.html

http://www.halloweenforum.com/general-halloween/134032-my-demon-horse-inflatable-lol.html

 

[FascinatinatedFright]

There's a big difference between inspiration and infringement, though. Why can't the companies take ideas and not complete designs? It wouldn't be too hard for Morbid or whoever made it to produce a scary rag doll or a two-headed doll after seeing Jodi's work, but outright stealing the idea and making minor tweaks to the design seems pointless. Just come up with your own take on the idea, companies! If they're going to use artists' work, they shouldn't infringe, and certainly not make it so blatant.