From handmade gifts for the creator's daughter to stories of industrial troll dolls worth billions of dollars.

Thomas Dam is first and foremost a father. He worked hard to support his family in Gesol, Denmark. He worked from a baker to a fisherman, and finally became a bricklayer before carpentry. Despite his best efforts, his family lived in poverty in their early years. Everything changed when he surprised his daughter Anabel with a gift he created. Inspired by some local legends of magical forest creatures, Dam presented his daughter with the world's first troll doll with magical power and likes to make people happy. Unlike the plastic trolls in the 1960s and 1990s, the troll doll of 1959 is carved from wood with glass eyes and wool hair. His daughter's love for dolls spread to her friends who wanted their own dolls. Dam opened a shop in a shed in his backyard, and began to take orders and sell his troll dolls in local amusement parks and toy stores.

Since every troll doll is handmade, Dam has to find ways to improve production efficiency to meet the demand. Instead of carving each statue out of wood, he began to make clay models of each statue, so that he could make the body out of natural rubber and then fill the body with sawdust before sewing sheepskin wigs and clothes. The production of troll dolls has become a family matter, and it turns out that this kind of sales is enough to support the family. Soon, Dam's shed became too small, forcing him to set up a small factory to mass-produce his "good luck troll". Since the machine will be used to make the troll's body, Dam needs to modify the manufacturing method of the troll again. He changed from using natural rubber to using vinyl material, which is still being produced today.

The success of troll dolls soon spread to the motherland of dam in Denmark. These dolls have gained international fame after entering other European countries and other countries, especially the United States. The first troll doll craze in the United States occurred in the 1960s, 1963, and the American Toy Association named "Dam Troll" as the toy of the year, which was second only to Barbie doll sales in this country for 10 years.

Despite its success, due to copyright issues, Dam's works were published in the United States from 65438 to 0965. In the case of Scandia House Enterprises, Inc. v. Dam Things Institution, the court ruled, inter alia:

The defendant sold the doll without notice and placed it in the public domain, which could not be withdrawn, because it was an accident or a mistake not to inform, especially in the case of giving notice. Therefore, many companies are allowed to start (and in some cases continue) selling their own copies of dam troll and related goods, such as T-shirts, key chains, sheets, blankets and so on. In the next few decades, Dam's business hardly saw the total sales of trolls and related goods exceed $4 billion.

1965 after the court decision, Dam reduced production. Calle, Dam Things is the current CEO? Stegard said, "The loss of copyright has had a serious impact on the company. Thomas became very disappointed and lost a lot of confidence in his ability to manage a global brand, so he returned to Denmark to protect everything there. He is an artist, not a businessman.

As sudden as troll fever, in the late 1960s, the small animal trade almost disappeared. Troll dolls remained in hibernation for the next 20 years, until the 1990s, when they became very popular again and were named toys of the year by the American Toy Association for the second time, this time at 199 1. 1992, the sales of troll dolls and related commodities increased to 700 million dollars (about1200 million dollars today). By the end of this century, the second wave has ended. Once again, Dam and his company only made a small profit because of a large number of copyc. However, after decades of legal struggle, the DAM family finally recovered their original American copyright in 2003, partly because of the Berne Convention of 1989 and the subsequent Uruguay Round World Trade Organization agreement of 1994. Among them, the latter adjusted some copyright rules to make the United States more in line with some provisions of the Berne Convention. Most notably, this has restored the copyright of some projects, which are still protected by copyright in the country of origin, but the copyright in the United States has expired or been revoked for any reason. Then there was a little legal trick. In 2003, the American copyright of Dam Things was finally restored and undisclosed compensation was paid. Sadly, these two troll trends have passed. Thomas Dam himself died in 14 and 1989.

In 2005, I cooperated with DiC Entertainment to launch an animated troll TV program. Unfortunately, in 20 10, Dam wanted to be big, and cooperated with DreamWorks to make an animated film and TV series, all about beloved troll dolls and wild and colorful hair. The film will be released on 20 16 1 1 month (obviously close to Christmas ...).

Will the third wave troll dolls be crazy? I think we must wait and see. In any case, if this trend reappears, dam companies will not benefit from it. However, this time it is their choice. After working with DreamWorks for three years to produce troll movies and programs, Dam Company decided to sell the brand to DreamWorks at an undisclosed price, retaining only Scandinavian rights to trolls.

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