Mattel, Inc. is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth and Elliot Handler in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. Mattel has a presence in 35 countries and territories; its products are sold in more than 150 countries. Mattel consists of three business segments: North America, International and American Girl.
Barbie is a fashion doll created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and introduced on March 9, 1959. The toy was based on the German Bild Lilli doll which Handler had purchased while in Europe. The figurehead of an eponymous brand that includes a range of fashion dolls and accessories, Barbie has been an important part of the toy fashion doll market for over six decades. Mattel has sold over a billion Barbie dolls, making it the company's largest and most profitable line. The brand has expanded into a multimedia franchise since 1984, including video games, animated films, television/web series, and a live-action film.
Bratz is an American fashion doll and media franchise created by former Mattel employee Carter Bryant for MGA Entertainment, which debuted in 2001.
Alex Kozinski is a Romanian-American jurist and lawyer who was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1985 to 2017. He was a prominent and influential judge, and many of his law clerks went on to clerk for U.S. Supreme Court justices.
Aqua is a Danish-Norwegian Europop band, best known for their 1997 single "Barbie Girl". The group formed in 1995 in Copenhagen and achieved international success around the globe in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The band released three albums: Aquarium in 1997, Aquarius in 2000 and Megalomania in 2011. The group sold an estimated 33 million albums and singles, making them the most profitable Danish band ever.
Mary Margaret McKeown is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit based in San Diego. McKeown has served on the Ninth Circuit since her confirmation in 1998.
Mattel Inc v 3894207 Canada Inc[2006] 1 S.C.R. 772, 2006 SCC 22 is a leading decision of the Supreme Court of Canada on the infringement of famous trade-mark names. The Court found that Mattel Inc. could not enforce the use of their trade-marked name "BARBIE" against a restaurant named "Barbie's".
Sindy is a British fashion doll created by Pedigree Dolls & Toys in 1963. A rival to Barbie, Sindy's look and range of fashions and accessories made her the best-selling toy in the United Kingdom in 1968 and 1970. After Marx Toys' unsuccessful attempt to introduce Sindy in the United States in the late 1970s, Hasbro bought the rights to Sindy and remodelled the doll to look more American. As a result, the doll's popularity declined; in addition, Barbie manufacturer Mattel filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement, which was settled when Hasbro agreed to remodel Sindy's face. During the 1990s, Barbie's share of the doll market continued to grow while Sindy's diminished, which led to Sindy being delisted from major retailers in 1997. Hasbro returned the doll's licence to Pedigree, and the doll was relaunched in 1999, manufactured by Vivid Imaginations. Sindy's 40th anniversary in 2003 saw a new manufacturer, New Moons, and another relaunch and redesign. There were further relaunches in 2016 by Tesco and in 2021 by Kid Kreations. There is a 60th anniversary Sindy doll which was launched at the end of 2023 to celebrate 60 years of Sindy.
"Barbie Girl" is a song by Danish-Norwegian dance-pop group Aqua. It was released in April 1997 by Universal and MCA as the third single from the group's debut studio album, Aquarium. The song was written by band members Søren Rasted, Claus Norreen, René Dif, and Lene Nystrøm, and was produced by the former two alongside Johnny Jam and Delgado. It was written after Rasted saw an exhibit on kitsch culture in Denmark that featured Barbie dolls. The accompanying music video was directed by Danish directors Peder Pedersen and Peter Stenbæk.
Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attached to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees. Infringement may occur when one party, the "infringer", uses a trademark which is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark owned by another party, especially in relation to products or services which are identical or similar to the products or services which the registration covers. An owner of a trademark may commence civil legal proceedings against a party which infringes its registered trademark. In the United States, the Trademark Counterfeiting Act of 1984 criminalized the intentional trade in counterfeit goods and services.
"Barbie World" is a song by Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj and American rapper Ice Spice from Barbie the Album, the soundtrack of the film Barbie (2023). It was released by Atlantic Records, 10K Projects, and Capitol Records as the soundtrack's third single on June 23, 2023; and was serviced to United States radio by the lattermost and Republic Records on June 27, 2023. Produced by RiotUSA, the song heavily samples the 1997 single "Barbie Girl" by Danish Europop band Aqua, who are credited as performers and co-writers in the song.
Under Canadian trade-mark law, "confusion" is where a trade-mark is similar enough to another trade-mark to cause consumers to equate them. Likelihood of confusion plays a central role in trade-mark registration, infringement and passing-off. Whether a trade-mark or trade-name is confusing is a question of fact. The role of confusion in trade-mark law is analogous to the role of substantial infringement in patent law.
Moseley v. V Secret Catalogue, Inc., 537 U.S. 418 (2003), is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States holding that, under the Federal Trademark Dilution Act, a claim of trademark dilution requires proof of actual dilution, not merely a likelihood of dilution. This decision was later superseded by the Trademark Dilution Revision Act of 2006 (TDRA).
Tom Forsythe is an American artist and tai chi instructor who lives and works in Utah. He is known for his photographic work of Barbie dolls, which caused some controversy resulting from a lawsuit brought against him by Mattel. The company lost the case, Mattel Inc. v. Walking Mountain Prods., when the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the images were original artwork in 2004.
Walker Process Equipment, Inc. v. Food Machinery & Chemical Corp., 382 U.S. 172 (1965), was a 1965 decision of the United States Supreme Court that held, for the first time, that enforcement of a fraudulently procured patent violated the antitrust laws and provided a basis for a claim of treble damages if it caused a substantial anticompetitive effect.
Matal v. Tam, 582 U.S. 218 (2017) is a Supreme Court of the United States case that affirmed unanimously the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that the provisions of the Lanham Act prohibiting registration of trademarks that may "disparage" persons, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols with the United States Patent and Trademark Office violated the First Amendment.
Mattel Inc. v. Walking Mountain Productions, 353 F.3d 792, was a case between Mattel and Tom Forsythe in which Mattel sued Forsythe for the production and sale of photographs portraying "Barbie" dolls. Mattel alleged that Forsythe's use of Barbie's name and likeness in his "Food Chain Barbie" photo series infringed on their copyrights, trademarks, and trade dress. The court held that Mattel's trademark and trade dress claims were "groundless or unreasonable" and therefore ordered Mattel to pay 1.8 million dollars in legal fees to Forsythe under the Lanham Act.
Holmes Group, Inc. v. Vornado Air Circulation Systems, Inc., 535 U.S. 826 (2002), is a United States Supreme Court case regarding the jurisdiction of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Jeffrey D. Goldman is an American former entertainment lawyer, best known for his music litigation practice and for his involvement in two influential internet law cases: A&M Records v. Napster and Perfect 10 v. Google. His cases dramatically impacted the development of Internet law and on the music industry's transformation from physical sales to digital distribution of music. He was also part of the litigation team that represented the plaintiff victims in the O. J. Simpson civil case.
