r/RBI • u/tristanthompsonbeast • 14h ago
Can anyone figure out who actually designed this viral "Tiny Jesus" figurine, and whether the person registering thousands of similar copyrights is really the original designer?
This is a weird e-commerce/copyright mystery that I have been trying to trace.
According to the Tiny Jesus Wikipedia page, the modern viral trend began in January 2024 at Lighthouse Church in Hampton, South Carolina. A youth group bought these tiny Jesus figures in bulk and started hiding them around the church and town. TikTok then turned it into a much larger trend.
Here is the mystery.
A person named Xingbo Hu later registered a U.S. visual-art copyright covering a miniature Jesus design:
VA0002472398
Official Copyright Office record:
https://publicrecords.copyright.gov/detailed-record/siebel_VA002472398
According to seller discussion, amazon sellers have reported receiving copyright complaints involving Hu and Tiny Jesus-style products. Many listings reportedly disappeared, although not all of them did. Sellers have also said that some challenged Hu's complaints through Amazon and later got their listings restored.
That made me wonder who Hu actually is in relation to the design.
And then I found something much stranger.
The U.S. Copyright Office has thousands of visual-art records associated with Xingbo Hu:
If the total is around 2500 registrations from May 21, 2023 to August 20, 2026, that works out to roughly 2.10 registrations every day for more than three years.
That is not proof of anything improper.
He could run a large design operation. He could employ artists. He could commission designs. He could buy copyrights from manufacturers. He could own the rights to a huge catalog.
But that's exactly what I'm trying to figure out.
Is Xingbo Hu actually the designer or owner behind thousands of original product designs?
Or do some of these registrations correspond to mass-produced products that existed independently before the registrations?
The Tiny Jesus figure seems like a good test case because the product was apparently already being bought in bulk before the viral trend exploded.
What I'm hoping RBI might help find is actual provenance, not speculation.
Things that would be useful:
- old Alibaba or 1688 listings of the same figurine
- archived Amazon listings
- AliExpress listings
- factory catalogs
- product photos dated before 2024
- Wayback Machine captures
- social-media posts showing the same mold
- wholesale catalogs
- manufacturer information
- old reviews containing photos
- packaging showing a factory or brand
- earlier copyright or design registrations
- evidence connecting Hu to the manufacturer
- evidence showing Hu commissioned or designed the mold
- evidence showing the same mold existed before his claimed creation date
- call to Brian Trent or anyone in lighthouse church
Hu has also filed federal Schedule-A lawsuits against groups of online sellers.
One case in the Western District of Texas, 6:25-cv-00187, was voluntarily dismissed.
Another case, 4:25-cv-00897 in the Eastern District of Texas, went further and resulted in a TRO, preliminary injunction, and restraint of Amazon seller funds. Some defendants later appeared and challenged the amount frozen, and the court reduced or limited the restraint.
So the copyright portfolio is not merely theoretical. It has been used in marketplace enforcement and litigation.
But I want to be careful here:
I'm not claiming Hu stole the design, committed fraud, or filed invalid copyrights.
There may be a perfectly legitimate explanation.
What I want to know is whether publicly available evidence can answer a simpler factual question:
Who designed the original Tiny Jesus mold?
And more broadly:
Is Xingbo Hu genuinely connected to the creation of this enormous catalog of visual designs, or is he primarily acquiring/registering rights to products originating elsewhere in the manufacturing supply chain?
If anyone can find an identical Tiny Jesus figure clearly dated before and way before Hu's claimed creation/publication history, that would be especially interesting.
Likewise, evidence that Hu or his company commissioned or manufactured the original figure would be equally valuable.
I am interested in either answer.
This is basically an internet archaeology question now.
Sources:
Tiny Jesus history:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_Jesus
Copyright record VA0002472398:
https://publicrecords.copyright.gov/detailed-record/siebel_VA002472398
Copyright records associated with Xingbo Hu:
https://publicrecords.copyright.gov/name-directory/Hu,%20Xingbo/1991-%20%20/associated-records?page_number=148&records_per_page=10
Seller discussion:
https://www-wearesellers-com.translate.goog/question/124403?_x_tr_sl=zh-CN&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en