Selling Sonny Angel & Smiski Dupes on Etsy: Trademark, Copyright & the Dreams USA Crackdown (2026)

Blind-box collectibles are one of the hottest niches on Etsy right now, and Sonny Angel and Smiski sit near the top of the pile. They're tiny, they're cute, they're endlessly photogenic, and they sell out constantly — which is exactly why so many sellers are tempted to list "Sonny Angel style" mini figures, "Smiski dupe" night-light blobs, custom display shelves labelled with the brand names, or repackaged loose figures pulled from blind boxes.

Here's the problem: the company behind both brands has spent the last year suing those sellers in federal court, and winning. In 2025 Dreams USA secured preliminary injunctions and more than $1 million against counterfeit sellers, plus permanent bans on fake Sonny Angel, Smiski, and HIPPERS products. The cases were filed against hundreds of online sellers at once under the "Schedule A" model — the same mass-litigation playbook that has frozen Etsy, Amazon, and TikTok Shop accounts overnight.

If you sell anything in this niche, this post walks through exactly what's protected, what crosses the line, what the lawsuits actually targeted, and how to keep your shop on the safe side.

Short version: Sonny Angel®, Smiski®, and HIPPERS® are registered trademarks AND the figures themselves are copyrighted. "Dupe," "inspired by," and "not affiliated" disclaimers do not make a knockoff legal. Reselling genuine figures is generally fine; making, importing, or relabelling lookalikes is what gets sellers sued.

Who actually owns Sonny Angel and Smiski

Both brands are owned by Dreams, Inc. (Japan), with Dreams USA, Inc. handling the U.S. market and enforcement. That single ownership matters, because it means one legal team is watching the entire blind-box category — Sonny Angel, the Sonny Angel HIPPERS series, and Smiski are all defended together.

What they hold:

The brand names Sonny Angel®, Smiski®, and HIPPERS® are registered U.S. trademarks. That covers the words themselves, the logos, and the packaging look. Using any of those names in your title, tags, or shop name to sell a non-genuine product is textbook trademark infringement.

The figures themselves are copyrighted. Sonny Angel's chubby baby body with the signature animal/fruit headpieces, and Smiski's pale glow-in-the-dark crouching figures, are original sculptural works. Copying their shape — even with slightly different colors or your own "twist" — can infringe the copyright in the underlying design, completely separately from the trademark.

The packaging and presentation may also be protected as trade dress. The blind-box format, the series artwork, and the distinctive look that tells a buyer "this is a Sonny Angel" can all be protected. If you read our piece on trade dress infringement on Etsy, this is the same risk applied to collectibles.

The takeaway: this is a double-IP brand. Even if you carefully avoid the name, copying the figure can still get you a copyright claim. And if you copy the figure and use the name, you've handed them both causes of action.

What the Dreams USA lawsuits actually went after

Understanding the targets helps you see where the line really sits. The 2025 federal cases — filed as Dreams USA, Inc. v. The Partnerships and Unincorporated Associations Identified on Schedule A — went after sellers of counterfeit and knockoff figures: products made to look like, be mistaken for, or pass as genuine Sonny Angel, Smiski, and HIPPERS items.

Dreams has said publicly it pursues a wide net — kiosk operators, convenience-store owners, brick-and-mortar shops, web-based platforms, and social media sellers. That last category is the one that should make Etsy and TikTok Shop sellers pay attention. These suits are not limited to factories in another country; they routinely name individual online storefronts.

The remedies Dreams obtained are the scary part:

• Statutory damages of up to $250,000 per counterfeit mark — you don't have to have made that much in sales for the number to apply.
• Preliminary and permanent injunctions ordering sellers to stop immediately.
• Asset freezes. In Schedule A cases, the court often freezes the seller's marketplace and payment accounts (PayPal, Payoneer, Stripe, marketplace balances) before the seller even knows they've been sued.

That asset-freeze mechanic is what makes Schedule A litigation so devastating, and it's why we wrote a full guide on Etsy mass trademark lawsuits, Schedule A, and frozen funds. If you sell in any heavily-counterfeited niche, that piece is required reading.

Why "small seller" is no defense: Schedule A suits bundle dozens or hundreds of defendants into one complaint precisely so the brand can sweep up small sellers cheaply. Being a tiny shop doesn't make you invisible — it makes you an easy default judgment.

The lines: what's risky vs. what's usually fine

Let's get specific, because "blind-box collectibles" covers a lot of very different listings.

Reselling genuine figures — usually fine

If you bought authentic Sonny Angel or Smiski figures at retail and you're reselling them — including loose figures pulled from blind boxes, or "open box" singles so buyers can pick the one they want — that's generally protected by the first-sale doctrine. You're allowed to resell a genuine item you legally bought. We cover the nuances in first-sale doctrine and reselling branded items on Etsy.

Two cautions even here:

You can use the brand name truthfully and descriptively ("authentic Sonny Angel, Marine Series, opened to identify") under nominative fair use — but you cannot dress your listing up to look like an official Sonny Angel store, use their logo as your shop icon, or imply endorsement. See nominative fair use on Etsy for where the line sits.

Etsy's own handmade/vintage rules still apply. Reselling new mass-produced figures can run into Etsy's resale policies separately from any IP issue, so don't assume "legal" equals "allowed on Etsy."

Making or importing lookalike figures — high risk

This is the conduct the lawsuits target. "Sonny Angel dupe" mini figures, generic blind-box babies with animal hats, Smiski-style glow blobs sourced from Alibaba — even if you never type the brand name, copying the sculptural design can infringe copyright, and selling them as substitutes for the real thing can be unfair competition. Add the brand name and you've added a counterfeiting claim on top.

A common myth is that changing the product "30%" or adding your own spin makes a copy legal. It doesn't — there's no magic percentage. We bust that and others in Etsy dupe products: trademark rules and compliance.

Accessories and display items — depends entirely on naming

Custom shelves, acrylic display cases, blind-box openers, and storage organizers are a legitimate handmade category. The risk isn't the shelf — it's how you market it.

Selling a "mini figure display shelf" and mentioning in the description that it fits Sonny Angel and Smiski figures by size? Defensible descriptive use. Naming your product "Sonny Angel Shelf," stamping the logo into the wood, or building the entire listing around the brand as if it's official? That's using their trademark to sell your product, which is exactly what they object to.

A safe reframe: sell to the use case, not the brand. "Display shelf for 3-inch blind-box mini figures" reaches the same buyers through search without putting a registered trademark in your title.

Fan art and custom figures — the copyright trap

Hand-painted "Sonny Angel inspired" figures, crocheted versions, polymer-clay recreations, or 3D-printed lookalikes feel like fan art, but the underlying figure is a copyrighted sculpture. Recreating it in a new medium is making a derivative work, which is one of the rights the copyright owner controls. Handmade does not cure copyright — the same point we make about crochet and Squishmallow trade-dress dupes applies here.

How this compares to the Labubu situation

If you've read our guide to selling Labubu and Pop Mart products on Etsy, a lot of this will feel familiar — and it should, because the legal structure is nearly identical. Different company (Pop Mart owns Labubu; Dreams owns Sonny Angel and Smiski), but the same trap: a viral blind-box brand, an aggressive enforcement program, registered trademarks layered over copyrighted character designs, and a Schedule A litigation strategy aimed at online sellers.

The lesson across the whole blind-box category is the same. These aren't sleepy brands that won't notice a small Etsy shop. They are actively litigating, they are winning seven-figure judgments, and they are explicitly naming web and social sellers in their complaints.

A 6-point compliance check before you list

Run every Sonny Angel / Smiski / blind-box listing through this:

1. Is the product genuine, or a copy? Genuine resale is usually fine; copies are the core risk. Be honest with yourself about where your inventory actually came from.
2. Does the figure's shape copy a protected design? If a buyer could mistake your figure for the real one, that's a copyright and counterfeiting problem regardless of the name.
3. Is the brand name doing the selling? Using it to describe a genuine item is defensible; using it to attract buyers to a substitute is not.
4. Any logos, official packaging, or series artwork? Remove them. Trade dress and logos are protected even when the figure isn't.
5. Have you implied endorsement or affiliation? A "not affiliated with Dreams USA" disclaimer does not fix infringement — see why disclaimers don't protect you.
6. Could you defend this listing to a judge, not just to Etsy? Etsy might leave a listing up for months; a Schedule A complaint can still freeze your account later. Build for the legal standard, not the enforcement gap.

If you've already received a complaint or a lawsuit notice

If Etsy removes a listing on an IP complaint from Dreams USA, treat it as an early warning and audit your whole shop before a second complaint stacks up — our walkthrough on responding to an Etsy IP complaint step by step covers the process.

If you receive an actual summons, a notice of a frozen account, or a Schedule A complaint, that is a different and more serious situation. Do not ignore it — default judgments in these cases routinely hit the maximum statutory damages. Get an IP attorney involved immediately; our notes on when Etsy sellers need an IP attorney and what it costs explain what to expect.

The bottom line

Sonny Angel and Smiski are a fantastic niche to serve — there's real, growing demand for authentic resale, display accessories, and storage solutions. They are a dangerous niche to fake. Dreams USA has proven, with more than $1 million in judgments and a string of injunctions, that it will pursue online sellers individually, and the Schedule A model means the first sign of trouble can be a frozen payment account rather than a polite email.

Sell genuine. Describe truthfully. Never copy the figure, never borrow the logo, and never rely on a disclaimer to do work it legally cannot do.

Want to know which of your listings are quietly putting your whole shop at risk? ShieldMyShop scans your Etsy listings for trademark and IP red flags — including high-risk collectible brands like Sonny Angel, Smiski, and Labubu — before a brand's legal team finds them. Start a free trial and get your shop audited today.