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Doujin Vendor Hen Da Ne: Yaoi Paddle Kickstarter Was Not Authorized

The doujin vendor Hen Da Ne is involved in a copyright dispute with the Yaoi Paddle fan Kickstarter, accusing it of "blatantly stealing our design." The company stated in a tweet on Saturday: "We weren't asked permission, and we do not give it."

The Kickstarter campaign, which aims to bring back the spanking accessory as a novelty item, reached its goal of 1,800 pounds on its second day, but is currently unavailable due to an intellectual property dispute filed by Hen Da Ne.

Hen Da Ne's description of the copyrighted material is as follows: "A wooden paddle exactly the same as ones previous sold and copyrighted by Hen Da Ne! Inc. These paddles are banned from nearly every convention and are harmful to our business operations if sold in their current form and configuration."

Artist Henry AL, who launched the Kickstarter last Friday, described Hen Da Ne's copyright claim to ANN as "fraudulent." He said that he believes the company "can't forbid everyone from making another yaoi paddle for the rest of the time, only to not produce paddles themselves." He also claimed that Hen Da Ne are not the original creators of the Yaoi Paddle, pointing to testimony by Akicafe, the artist who claims to have created the original Yaoi Paddle design.

According to the linked testimony, Akicafe gifted the original Yaoi Paddle design to Hen Da Ne, and the company subsequently purchased the legal rights to produce the paddle. Although the artist noted that there were some miscommunications about the number of paddles that would be produced, they clarified: "[Hen Da Ne] never stole the invention. [They] bought the rights for mass production from me. It was originally a gift that snowballed into a nitch [sic] of convention wierdness [sic] and fandom. The production rights though never stated the amount that he could make. I was assuming he would make like 50 or 100 of them, whereas he went on to make tens of thousands (I believe). That's where I was minorly miffed about it."

Hen Da Ne representative Jordan Vieira told ANN that the story is "basically as that testimony stands," emphasizing that "it is legally our design." He also noted that the number of paddles the company produced was in the hundreds rather than the tens of thousands.

Henry AL additionally insisted that he would have bought paddles from Hen Da Ne if they were available, and that his relaunch is "meant to just be for a keeps sake no more dangerous than a wooden spoon in the kitchen," arguing that "No one is actually going to be able to bring a paddle to a convention." In the original Kickstarter campaign description he urged backers not to whack people without consent, writing, "We had a nice thing, and it took a lot of work to bring it back, so let's make sure to keep it wholesome."

Vieira stated that he is against reviving this design of the Yaoi Paddle: "We feel that this version of the Yaoi paddle should stay in the past where it belongs. If people want to make more, great, but not with our specific design. We don't want, nor need that association or blame if they start being used or brought to conventions."

Nevertheless, Henry AL is still determined to resume the Kickstarter campaign, telling ANN that he is currently appealing to the platform to contest the copyright claim.

Doujinshi vendor Hen Da Ne once sold Yaoi Paddles in the 2000s as an affectionate riff on the boys-love manga genre (also known in English-speaking circles as "yaoi" at the time). The items were eventually banned from conventions due to their misuse as weapons or for harassment.

For readers who weren't around during the height of Yaoi Paddle fascination, their existence is immortalized in an Anime News Nina comic strip and in documentary form by the YouTuber Red Bard.

Sources: Hen Da Ne's Twitter account, Kickstarter, Email Correspondence