Smartening up China's image

The Palace Museum announced on Friday that it will stop selling its popular "Gege" dolls, based on a Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) princess, after they were said to be too similar to a product made by a foreign manufacturer, especially in terms of their head-body proportion and joints, which led to allegations they were the products of intellectual property rights theft.

In fact, the head and clothing of these dolls were originally designed by the museum's Taobao designers, but their body design was with the authorization of a cooperative partner. This means whether or not the dolls involved an IPR infringement has yet to be confirmed.

In the meantime, the swift removal of these dolls from the shelves by the Palace Museum store deserves praise. The store's rapid response to the claims shows its respect for the IPR of other brands.