Dolls removed from Palace Museum shop
The Palace Museum has removed a line of popular dolls from its flagship online Taobao store to avoid infringement risks. Pretty Gege, a line of female dolls dressed in Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) costumes, were removed from the store last week after netizens raised doubts about the products’ originality. It is claimed that the dolls have a shape that is similar to a line of Japanese products. The Palace Museum said in an official announcement that it owns the intellectual property rights to the doll’s facial designs, costumes, hairstyles and special shoes. However, the doll’s body was provided by a company that was authorized to use a patented structure design. Observers said the removal shows the Palace Museum’s prudence in dealing with IP risks.