Comments on: Barbie comes out swinging

Internet attorney Eric J. Sinrod explains why the doll's corporate parent decided it had to take on a China-based cybersquatter.

[eccesignum]

Kevin?

I believe Barbie's boyfriend's name is Ken.

[Zoe Slocum]

Barbie and Ken, Skipper and Kevin

Yes, Ken is Barbie's beau. But how can we forget Kevin, Skipper's longtime boyfriend? Here's a fan page devoted to Kevin: http://www.manbehindthedoll.com/KV.htm. And a Barbie "family tree": http://adelesbarbies.tripod.com/id18.html. And a Wikipedia entry about Skipper: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skipper_Roberts. To clear up any ambiguity, we have tweaked the Perspective text.

[inachu]

Barbie as a copyright.

Barbie is a household name and so common I have seen in my lifetime some girls being called lack of a better terminology "Barbie"

Lisa, "Oh! Isn't she a little Barbie!"
Betty replies, "So cute isn't she?"

So having a competitor using BARBIE making dolls is a plain blatant copyright infringement but whereas Barbie being used not to be used for child dolls but as a metaphor that a woman can be as cute thus not really selling a competing product but by name alone.

So this case is really about Brand name recognition and not just soiling giving bad image but keeping the reputation of the name as a wholesome family brand.

I suspect the adult website will not win.

[cartablst]

who?

Kevin? Seriously? KEN. Good old plastic-haired Ken.

[perfectblue97]

corporate goons

I hope that Mattel don't get very far with this, if they do it would be a dark day for the courts. Barbie is a common name, and it's not as if the website used Mattel's logo or even a picture of a Barbie doll on the front page.

This is corporate goonery and bullying, nothing less. Big name companies throwing their weight around.

What next, the feds suing a gardening website for being called AmericanBush.com, or the British suing the band "Queen" because it infringed on the title of "the Queen"?

[K.P.C.]

What a joke . . .

Reminds me of Spike Lee trying to trademark the letter "X"
Dude, it's a letter in the alphabet! Get over yourself!

Here's a little something for our litigious friends at Mattel:
http://photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=581929
http://photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=614612
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEzh10_xoqw
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/08/22/barbie.bandit.ap/ind
ex.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Barbie
http://www.australianbeers.com/culture/barbies.htm
http://www.barbiealmalbis.com/main2.htm
http://www.barbieslapp.com/abuses/index.html
http://www.stickam.com/editMediaComment.do?
method=load&mId=174424556

Cheers ;-)

[devbost]

I can see the headline in The Onion now

"Mattel sues Klaus Barbie for trademark infringement"

[wbenton]

With all the other illegal stuff from China...

With all the other illegal stuff from China, this one doesn't surprise me at all.

China needs to learn that it CAN be held accountable for what it does, but until those who hold them accountable... actually follow through and do so... I only see more of the same.

It's nothing new... only thing is that few companies have stood up and done something about it.

Sounds like way past time that more need to do the same!

Walt