(Not) Animal Crossing

[BabyTyrant]

Is this sort of thing even Legal for them to sell? It looks like the ACNH Switch, but it's just a set of Skins for the Dock and Joy Cons so someone can make their Regular Switch look like an ACNH Edition

I kinda feel like being a 99% Copy makes them liable to being sued as I have the real version and this one looks very close

Ultimately I think it would be okay if someone buys it for themselves, but I hope they dont buy it for Scamming Purposes

By which I mean putting it on a regular Switch and selling it as the ACNH Version, and then the buyer needs to open up a dispute for a refund

 

[Blathers]

Is Nintendo selling it or is it someone making it seem like that?
because if so, yeah thats mega illegal
but at the same time, I have seen custom design places use characters and things owned by different companies and never get sued. SO i dunno maybe not mega illegal?

 

[KitsuneFox]

As long as the artwork is not exact and the title is far enough away from AC , it's not illegal to sell cheap knock-offs .

The Android/Apple app-stores have tens of thousands of rip-offs .

 

[BabyTyrant]

Is Nintendo selling it or is it someone making it seem like that?
because if so, yeah thats mega illegal
but at the same time, I have seen custom design places use characters and things owned by different companies and never get sued. SO i dunno maybe not mega illegal?

It is not Nintendo, it's just some aftermarket company that makes Skins for things such as the Nintendo Switch Dock and Joy-Cons

I think they are treading a mighty fine line because it's an almost 1:1 copy of the original design and they are advertising it as (Not) Animal Crossing

and they make jokes about how it may or may not be legal and "The lawyers we hired say we can do this, the ones we didnt hire disagree" or something to that effect

Its kind of like if you make a knockoff Mario product, where the "Mario" has wonky eyes and looks angry and you advertise it as "(Not) Mario" on the open market

They seem to be hoping they can get off by it not quite being 1:1 and calling it a "Parody" but Parodies dont tend to use IP names of the thing they are making fun of

 

[dogboy]

Of course if it comes from China, they're going to be impossible to sue and they aren't going to care at all. China does this all the time, stealing other peoples' ideas and products. They illegally reproduce American movies and sell them to their people. They are quite generous however in giving the world a deadly disease so that was nice of them.

 

[Blathers]

Thats what I thought also,

in the makeup industry china makes "knock offs" all the time
one time a girl bought a lipstick from a market there, and she got a chemical burn on her face YIKES

 

[BabyTyrant]

Thats what I thought also,

in the makeup industry china makes "knock offs" all the time
one time a girl bought a lipstick from a market there, and she got a chemical burn on her face YIKES

I know

with something like this Console Skin Kit, I wouldn't think its actually Dangerous

But its definitely questionable and of course if they are in China they will never have to fear legal Action

As I've said I dont so much mind this sort of product if people want it for personal use

I just hope that nobody uses it on a Standard Switch to sell it as the ACNH version; knowing someone wont look close enough and will buy it and find out it's not the real thing later

 

[Blathers]

I know

with something like this Console Skin Kit, I wouldn't think its actually Dangerous

But its definitely questionable and of course if they are in China they will never have to fear legal Action

As I've said I dont so much mind this sort of product if people want it for personal use

I just hope that nobody uses it on a Standard Switch to sell it as the ACNH version; knowing someone wont look close enough and will buy it and find out it's not the real thing later

Yeah makes sense, guess it isnt dangerous I AM JUST DRAMATIC lol love a bit of exaggeration XD

 

[mistysummers]

China making something that rips off a well know IP is like saying water is wet. Lol. Its crazy how much stuff they counter fit over there, which is why i never buy from ebay sellers from china, which is getting hard to do as they will list the shop in my country but the item is made and shipped from china.

 

[BabyTyrant]

China making something that rips off a well know IP is like saying water is wet. Lol. Its crazy how much stuff they counter fit over there, which is why i never buy from ebay sellers from china, which is getting hard to do as they will list the shop in my country but the item is made and shipped from china.

That doesn't baffle me, but you would think it wouldn't just be openly advertised on FaceBook as that's not a Chinese business and would have to adhere to US Laws

Also the brand is Dbrand, which is Toronto based

 

[mistysummers]

That doesn't baffle me, but you would think it wouldn't just be openly advertised on FaceBook as that's not a Chinese business and would have to adhere to US Laws

Also the brand is Dbrand, which is Toronto based

Lol facebook show ads from a lot of fake site that sell stuff from stolen ips, i get ad for shirts and posters all the time that has stolen art. These are pop up shops that open, close and re open under new names. They skirt around ad law

 

[BabyTyrant]

Lol facebook show ads from a lot of fake site that sell stuff from stolen ips, i get ad for shirts and posters all the time that has stolen art. These are pop up shops that open, close and re open under new names. They skirt around ad law

Yeah, but I would think a brand like D-Brand which is based in Toronto could definitely face legal action for making a product like the (Not) Animal Crossing Skin Kit

The thumbnail attached here is my real one, you can see they are terribly close looking to each other and I bet if a Standard Switch had the (Not) Animal Crossing Skin Kit installed and it was being sold on eBay somebody would get Duped

 

[mistysummers]

If they dont get a letter from nintendo then there really isnt anything wrong, nintendo are pretty hard at cracking down on people who steal ips

 

[CuddleWoozle]

If you're terribly concerned about them breaking the law, drop a line to Nintendo. They'll pounce if they feel it's a violation.

 

[BabyTyrant]

If you're terribly concerned about them breaking the law, drop a line to Nintendo. They'll pounce if they feel it's a violation.

It's no so much that I'm "Worried" just curious if its actually legal to be selling something to the masses that is so close to the real thing

My only real worry is that some scammer could use it to scam people by making them think they are buying the real deal

I know a lot of people dont pay much attention to fine details and if they are in a hurry might not even read a product description

And I would hate to be a buyer that bought a Switch that was Re-Skinned to look like a Special Edition and find out it wasnt the special edition after all, especially with something like the ACNH edition going for as much as they do right now

 

[CuddleWoozle]

If someone was gonna dupe people, I'd imagine they'd show a picture of a real AC switch and send them a brick or something.

That's how many of them do things like that. I've seen where it was done with iPods and iPhones.

As to the actually legal, no, it's not because it's not a parody, it's a copy.

It's not their characters or designs, so it's fairly likely that when Nintendo finds out they're doing it they'll be told to knock it off.

That being said, there are some official AC skins for the Switch/Switch Lite that I actually like better than this design.

 

[BabyTyrant]

If someone was gonna dupe people, I'd imagine they'd show a picture of a real AC switch and send them a brick or something.

That's how many of them do things like that. I've seen where it was done with iPods and iPhones.

As to the actually legal, no, it's not because it's not a parody, it's a copy.

It's not their characters or designs, so it's fairly likely that when Nintendo finds out they're doing it they'll be told to knock it off.

That being said, there are some official AC skins for the Switch/Switch Lite that I actually like better than this design.

I haven't seen the official AC Skins, but I'm sure they are nice.

Having the real ACNH Edition Switch, I think its really Beautiful, and the Skin Kit will always just be a cheap copy

 

[CuddleWoozle]

It's pretty enough, but not enough for me to buy a second Switch just to have one. :3

So skin kits/cases are how I customize the Switch I already have.

 

[BabyTyrant]

It's pretty enough, but not enough for me to buy a second Switch just to have one. :3

So skin kits/cases are how I customize the Switch I already have.

The idea of customization is fine, it just seems kind of cheap for a company to make a Skin with the purpose of copying a Limited Edition console to the degree that D-Brand has

I wouldn't have got my ACNH Edition, I just happened to have perfect timing going to the store, saw stock and had to buy one

Had I not got the ACNH Version, I would probably be waiting who knows how long to get a Switch given they are sold out Everywhere and people are overcharging up to $100+ over retail, even on a Standard Edition

 

[Noodle]

Is this sort of thing even Legal for them to sell? It looks like the ACNH Switch, but it's just a set of Skins for the Dock and Joy Cons so someone can make their Regular Switch look like an ACNH Edition

I kinda feel like being a 99% Copy makes them liable to being sued as I have the real version and this one looks very close

Ultimately I think it would be okay if someone buys it for themselves, but I hope they dont buy it for Scamming Purposes

By which I mean putting it on a regular Switch and selling it as the ACNH Version, and then the buyer needs to open up a dispute for a refund

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In regards to the Scamming itself that's a road that's long been crossed multiple times with the scalping issues. Flipping housing happened during year 1 with Grey Switches adding Red/Blue ones. That being said I myself have a custom shell on my Switch and would say that most of the time still having the option to do it yourself, while risky if you're not patient with small parts, is a great thing for people who want to personalize their Switch.

Personally looking to buy some AC shells for the Lite variant once they're out myself.