(gg)

Original Story here

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.

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

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Eudaimonia

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

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Calm, quiet, smooth, devastating

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

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Eudaimonia

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"?

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If the theory does not conform to the facts, then the facts must be discarded.

No good deed ever goes unpunished

Never argue with an idiot. He'll drag you down to his level, & beat you with experience.

scotzoidman,

I think Mattel does have 'Barbie' trademarked.

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Eudaimonia

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...

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Plug me into somethin'

If the theory does not conform to the facts, then the facts must be discarded.

No good deed ever goes unpunished

Never argue with an idiot. He'll drag you down to his level, & beat you with experience.