Counterfeits
As with other Tomy manufactured solar powered toys, there are fake Flip Flaps being sold in stores. These are often cheaply made in China and are limited to only an up-and-down motion, and are incapable of the 3 different movements characteristic of authentic Flip Flaps. The fake and real versions look extremely similar, but consumers can differentiate between the two by looking for the Tomy logo, almost entirely Japanese characters on the box (limited English), and dark green leaves (fake Flip Flaps have light green leaves, as opposed to the darker, real ones of slightly better quality). Other Flip Flap knockoffs are sold that are solely inspired by Flip Flaps, but not directly based on Flip Flaps, as they are sold in very different packaging than the authentic ones and have flowers that look different. According to the European Union patent database, the patent was copied by a small Chinese company called "Shenzhen Longgang Pinghu Tengy". It seems that Tomy has sold the licence to market this product as "Flip Flap" in the European Union and the Chinese company infringed the copyright. ==See also==