Monday, May 24, 2010

Plagiarism on TT Hong Li's Website

There's no update so far regarding the legal case Bandai is pursuing against the pirated Gunpla manufacturer and reseller as reported one month ago. There's no indication when the verdict will be released either.

While the original report from China Legal Publicity didn't specifically put out the brand name of the pirated Gunpla, a discovery of their website pretty much confirms that the primary defendant from the case is the well known (or should I say infamous) TT Hong Li brand. The address of the company between the legal case report and that listed on the website from the contact page is the same.

It seems like the company's name is "TT Wanju", but they put "TT Hong Li" as the brand of the Gunpla they produced instead.

On a not-so related note, a closer look at the picture on the website is going to piss off Dalong Dot Net's fans for sure.


Those are images of MG kits assembled and reviewed by Dalong aren't they?

Also, seeing the picture of MG Unicorn Gundam Titanium Finish Ver. at the bottom right corner makes me wonder when did they make the website in the first place, considering that it wasn't a very old release (March 2009).

A look at the company's Taobao Web reveals even worst plagiarism over Dalong Dot Net's materials:





Almost all the kits sold on the website use Dalong Dot Net's images, which is clearly a violation of Dalong Dot Net's term of use, which states that:


Image from Dalong Dot Net.

TT Hong Li's happily selling away as many kits as they like using the photos of Gunplas done by Dalong.

Apart from plagiarism, what really gets on my nerve about the website is how TT Hong Li is promoting their kits by showing Bandai's product images instead of their own. Er, hello, that's called misleading the customers, right? Folks who bought stuff from the company should have a word or two with them about the images used, because no matter how well-made TT Hong Li's pirated stuff is said to be, they can never be the same as Bandai's products, which are being shown through the website.

By the way, if the company displays the lack of confident in using their own product photos to advertise for their own stuff, why should people buy from them in the first place?

Well, I suppose pirates are pirates after all - people who make personal profits from others' hard work, be it Bandai or Dalong Dot Net. The list of victim in TT Hong Li's case is growing now.

Images are from TT Hong Li's official site and Taobao Web.