Protected, Packaged and Pop-Cultured: Labubu Dolls Shaking IP Waves

Introduction: 

Quirky Labubu dolls have quickly become the new couture. These are small, furry, elvish creatures with big eyes and a mischievous smile, created by the Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung. They are a brand of plush collectible toy monster elves marketed by the Chinese retail giant and exclusive seller, Pop Mart, known for their designs. The Labubu dolls have gained significant popularity and gone viral on the internet, with fashion lovers and collectors being drawn to their unique aesthetic. Their characters have become a highly sought-after item, with people often seen dangling the dolls from their luxurious designer handbags. 

Risk of Counterfeits: Global Alert 

It has been well said that “with great popularity, comes great responsibility”. Labubu dolls have gone viral almost overnight. Trending on social media has exponentially increased their demand and sales. The dolls are being sold out almost immediately after being stocked on the Chinese e-commerce platform AliExpress. However, this meteoric rise in fame has brought new opportunities as well as challenges for Pop Mart who now face a global counterfeit market stronger than ever before. It has already been noted that “Some of these rare Labubu figures are selling for thousands of dollars on resale platforms.” Furthermore, to meet the demand, counterfeiters have jumped at the opportunity and fake Labubu dolls are being sold across the world also leaving Pop Mart facing not just loss of revenue but also reputational damage. The Labubu dolls’ name, character and design are all intellectual property assets protected by trademark, design and copyright. Rampant intellectual property infringement requires a vigilant approach from the company.  

In view of the infringement, Pop Mart has adopted an enforcement strategy to safeguard its brand assets globally. Chinese customs authorities, including at major ports like Shanghai Pudong International Airport, have intercepted and seized large consignments of counterfeit toys bearing the Pop Mart brand logo and resembling the Labubu series. These operations underscore how critical cross-border enforcement and IP registration are in curbing the illicit trade of fakes.

An illustrative example of Pop Mart’s proactive enforcement occurred in Singapore in late 2024. The company swiftly responded upon discovering that local vendors were selling Labubu-inspired food items such as desserts and cakes—that closely mimicked the character’s distinctive visual identity. These unlicensed offerings not only infringed on Pop Mart’s trademarks and design rights but also risked diluting the brand’s image and misleading consumers. Pop Mart issued a public statement announcing it was prepared to take legal action, which led to an immediate halt in sales by vendors.

Global Appeal and Pop Mart’s Branding and IP Strategy: 

Flooding feeds on Instagram and TikTok over the past few months, their popularity boomed in mid-2024 after Blackpink's Lisa flaunted a Labubu on Instagram. Founded in 2010, Pop Mart has consistently grown in terms of sales, revenue and global appeal through a strategic mix of branding, surprise, and strong IP protection.

Pop Mart’s “Blind Box” model includes an element of surprise as the blind box is a sealed package with an unknown item that reveals a mystery collectible only upon opening. Influenced by the Japanese Lucky Bag and Gashapon Toy machines, this concept has driven demand, encouraging repeat purchases, fueling the collector craze and possibly even a rare collectible. While growing its own roster of characters under the Pop Mart brand, Pop Mart has secured licensing deals with companies including Disney, Universal, Warner Bros., Sanrio, and the NBA, to develop products appealing to a global audience. Collaborating with such established brands and recreating their characters with a Pop Mart twist has been an immensely successful approach for them. Additionally, the company is said to develop and protect its characters, designs and brand elements. 

Labubu dolls being fictional characters carry immense intellectual property value which requires a multilayered approach for protection. Notably, it has been observed that “Pop Mart sets itself apart from competitors by strategically trademarking its characters …and securing their names, designs, and features to prevent unauthorized use.” Further, “by trademarking these characters’ names, visual features, and specific design elements, Pop Mart establishes a robust legal framework to prevent third parties from producing knockoffs or confusingly similar products.” 

Its trademark protection extends across multiple jurisdictions and classes—from toys and retail to animation and merchandise— reflecting the company’s global ambitions and safeguarding its IP. As it expands into new markets and covers a wide range of merchandising, Pop Mart ensures that the characters and the associated commercial goodwill are shielded across all touchpoints. This approach ensures creative integrity and positions Pop Mart as a wave-maker in leveraging copymarks to enhance brand identity, consumer trust, and global market dominance. 

Protecting IP on a Global Stage: 

In order to protect their intellectual property, a robust multi-layered approach is essential. Trademark and copyright registrations in various jurisdictions are the first step. Additionally, design protection  of the three-dimensional features of the dolls may also be an adequate step towards protection. However, a proactive approach towards enforcement is also needed. Along with collaborative efforts from the government (especially customs departments) as well as the judiciary and the company, an enforcement strategy should be formed. Creating sufficient awareness amongst loyal customers shall also be a useful tool, as they learn to identify “fake” Labubu dolls. Vigilance on social media and e-commerce platforms is also crucial in order to cut down sales of counterfeit products. 

A noteworthy strategy is that the authentic Labubu dolls are being sold in the Pop Mart packaging with a scannable QR code. This QR code will direct you to an authentication page where you can verify your Labubu through a four digit verification code. This method alone can help consumers identify whether they have bought an authentic product or not. Just like their “Blind Box” strategy for marketing, this is another super strategy employed by Pop Mart to protect its intellectual property and deter scammers from selling fake products to loyal customers. 

Complementing this, blockchain-based traceability may be introduced to log immutable records of the dolls’ production, distribution, and retail journey, ensuring supply chain integrity and enabling enforcement against counterfeits. This strategy, employed by high-value industries such as luxury goods and collectibles, enhances transparency and significantly curtails the feasibility of producing convincingly fake goods. Further, deployment of serialized identifiers, wherein each Labubu doll or its packaging is marked with a unique alphanumeric or scannable code that is traceable in Pop Mart’s internal database shall serve as a deterrent and certification of authentication. Beyond consumer verification, serialization enables the brand to track individual units through the distribution network, allowing for forensic-level traceability in instances of counterfeit seizures, parallel imports, or warranty claims. It also facilitates controlled product recalls and inventory audits. By integrating such serialization into manufacturing workflows and associating each code with timestamped metadata (such as production date, batch number, and regional distribution channel), Pop Mart can maintain a comprehensive product provenance chain. 

Furthermore, counterfeiters face significant operational barriers in attempting to replicate unique codes linked to an active, monitored database—particularly when real-time authentication tools are made available to retailers and consumers. To reinforce physical security, tamper-evident packaging could be employed as a frontline safeguard. Given the collectible nature and high resale value of Labubu dolls, any breach in packaging integrity must be immediately apparent to the consumer. This can be achieved through the use of irreversible seals, tear strips, holographic security labels, or shrink wraps embedded with destructible features that indicate forced access or tampering. For limited-edition releases or mystery boxes, tamper-evident features further assure buyers that the product has not been previously opened, resealed, or replaced. 

The Future of Labubus and IP?

Much like iconic characters such as Mickey Mouse or James Bond, which have long enjoyed IP recognition beyond mere artistic drawings, Labubus too warrant layered protection. Given the growing popularity of Labubus, Pop Mart may potentially leverage the concept of copymarks—a hybrid legal concept proposed by Gregory S. Schienke that combines elements of both copyright and trademark laws to safeguard fictional characters. While copyright law protects the creative expression of characters and trademark law protects their distinctiveness and brand identity, neither provides exclusive, comprehensive protection for fictional characters on its own. Pop Mart can strategically leverage the concept of copymark after its characters have been in continuous, substantial and exclusive use for at least five years. This five-year period is critical because it allows Pop Mart to demonstrate that its characters have acquired distinctiveness and recognition independent of the original work, which are essential conditions for copymark protection that overlaps copyright and trademark rights. This approach enhances brand recognition and consumer trust, positioning Pop Mart as an innovator and leader in the collectible toy market. The effective use of copymarks shall give Pop Mart a competitive edge, helping it dominate the global market and set industry trends.

Conclusion

Explosive and viral trends require robust intellectual property protection. In a globalized digital market economy, this means collaborative efforts from all stakeholders involved. As Labubu dolls continue to charm their way into the global pop culture spotlight, Pop Mart’s foresight in combining creative vision with a layered IP protection strategy is proving to be its strongest asset in preserving brand value and ensuring consumer safety. From trademarking whimsical features to deploying tech-driven authentication tools to potentially exploring future-forward concepts like copymarks, the Labubu doll is a fine example for toy companies to be proactive in terms of protecting their intellectual property, especially in the digital era today. In an age where counterfeits threaten both profit and brand integrity, Pop Mart's approach offers a compelling blueprint for how storytelling, design, and robust legal safeguards can come together to create not just a product—but a cultural phenomenon.