Mattel sues porn website over use of Barbie name

[Aqua]

(gg)

Original Story here (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070822/od_nm/barbie_suit1_dc;_ylt=Anz.P4HJBRlZwh4TA8STjE.s0NUE)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mattel Inc. sued a small company on Tuesday for using the toymaker's famed "Barbie" trademark as part of the name for a pornographic Web site it owned.

The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, said the Web site www.chinabarbie.com had used the Barbie trademark to capture the positive image Mattel had created through its "Barbie" products.

The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, said the company, Global China Networks LLC, was based in Florida with a postal address in New York and had sold memberships to the site to customers around the world.

Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler in 1959 created the Barbie doll after noticing her daughter preferred playing with paper cut-outs of adult female fashion dolls, the lawsuit said.

American girls aged between 3 and 11 own an average of eight Barbie dolls each, the lawsuit said.

[jseal]

I bet that Mattel will take no prisoners in this case.

[Oldfart]

Beyond the name, I can't see anything in the site sampler that has anything to do with the Mattel product.

[jseal]

Neither could I. I suspect that as soon as Mattel gets the 'barbie' dropped from the web site, they will drop their case.

[scotzoidman]

Strikes me as another example of corperate bullying, or the 800-pound-gorrilla syndrome, kinda like how Disney threatened to go after the MPAA a few years back for using Snow White in a really bad song-&-dance bit during the Oscar ceremonies...I mean, come on, do they really think they can own the name "Barbie"?

[jseal]

... do they really think they can own the name "Barbie"?
scotzoidman,

I think Mattel does have 'Barbie' trademarked.

[Oldfart]

There is a limit to trademarking, as McDonalds are currently finding.

Does that classic Paul Hogan ad exhorting Yanks to visit Oz have to be re-shot so we can "Chuck another shrimp on the non-Mattel cooking device"?

[jseal]

Oldfart,

Could be, but I figure that Mattel will be going after this porn site with all the zeal, and if I might hazard a guess with similar results, as the music companies went after Napster.

Different legal principles, but I can just see their lawyers painting a picture of the "essential innocence " of their market being "corrupted" by "pornography" "hiding behind" "Mattel's good name and reputation"!

That's a made-to-order suit. :D

It will be interesting to watch this play out.

[scotzoidman]

Mattel may own the name for purposes of the doll & associated properties, but I don't see them having the right to any & all uses of the name...OF makes a valid point of where this could go if carried to its ridiculous extreme...

[jseal]

Too true.

But for commercial purposes, which the porn site in question can reasonably be described as pursuing at the expense of - oh how sad it is - the good name and outstanding reputation of the Mattel Corp, I do think that Mattel's legal staff have a strong case to present to the court.

The link still works. We shall see.

[scotzoidman]

Beyond the name, I can't see anything in the site sampler that has anything to do with the Mattel product.
I see the same...as a friend once pointed out, sometimes filing a nuisence suit can be its own reward...whether Mattel is sucessful or not may depend more on the resources available to chinabarbie.com & if they feel it's worthwhile to fight or not...

[WildIrish]

"Chuck another shrimp on the non-Mattel cooking device"?


I'm sorry but you can't say that...Chuck is the nickname Peppermint Patty uses for Charlie Brown.



Oh shit! I meant to say "Chuck is the nickname a girl named after a dark chocolate covered peppermint confection produced by the Hershey Foods Corporation, under license from Peter Paul, uses for Charlie Brown."

[scotzoidman]

<watching WI spiraling down the black hole of trademark infringement>

"Alas, I knew him well..."

[Oldfart]

Try our new "Yorick" brand infringement, when only the best will do, and isn't that most of the time?

[jseal]

Gentlefolk,

Let us pause for a moment, and reflect upon the seeming demise of a site which strayed too close to one of scotzoidman’s 800-pound-gorillas. :(

ChinaBarbie, we hardly knew ye...