January 2002
Barbie Bombs Again!
Mattel, makers of the world famous Barbie dolls have lost in the US Supreme Court in an appeal over the use of the song "Barbie Girl".
The song, which was a huge hit for Aqua in 1997, made no secret of its parody of the Barbie doll. Lyrics such as "life in plastic, its fantastic" offended Mattel who felt that such publicity sullied the image of Barbie and infringed the registered trade mark.
The judge, however, felt that under freedom of speech aspects of the US constitution the defendants were entitled to make social comment on Barbie.
Mattel had originally lost this case in court in July 2002 however they appealed to the Supreme Court.
BRIFFA Comment
This will come as a particular blow to Mattel as this is the third such Barbie/copyright/trademark case that they have lost in recent times. (See the article entitled "Barbie Bondage" reported elsewhere on our site.)As the repeated (expensive) court appearances by Mattel show, litigation isn't always the path to successful resolution of a problem, we can help you find out if there may be other quicker, cheaper methods of dispute resolution.