Are you ready to see a fierce, epic battle?
Mr. Tiger Squishmallow
We’re talking stuffed animals vs. stuffed animals. Plush toy pitted against plush toy. You may think we’re joking around, but two new lawsuits have recently been filed, bringing cute and lovable stuffed toys into a head-to-head battle of the courts. You can often find your favorite Disney character as a popular Squishmallow toy, but now they’re headed to court.
According to Reuters, Squishmallows, the adorable and sensational stuffed toys, is suing popular toy-making factory, Build-A-Bear Workshop, over their latest Skoosherz plush toy line. Squishmallows is calling out Skoosherz as “knockoffs” that have “infringed its intellectual property rights.”
Mr. Lion Squishmallow
Squishmallows is a toy brand owned by Jazwares which is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. In a statement, Jazwares’ lawyer, Moez Kaba, shared, “When it comes to intellectual property, imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery.”
Jazwares has sued Build-A-Bear in Los Angeles federal court, saying the former “‘blatantly and intentionally’ undermined its goodwill and created substantial confusion among consumers by copying Squishmallows’ look and feel, including ‘shaped fanciful renditions’ of animals, ‘simplified Asian style Kawaii faces,’ and ‘velvety velour-like’ fabric.”
Mr. Elephant Squishmallow
Incidentally, Build-A-Bear then filed their own lawsuit in St. Louis federal court against Squishmallow in retaliation. According to Build-A-Bear’s filings, Squishmallows do not have consistency in their products. They claim that their new Skoosherz are simply the most recent “soft, pillow-like squishy-type” of plush toys, which have been trending for years and are not specific to Squishmallows.
©Build-A-Bear
Build-A-Bear shared that they only recently launched their new line of Skoosherz for Valentine’s Day so they could use the market on that day for toys that were “uniquely styled for optimal hugging benefits.”
So what does each company want out of their respective lawsuit? Jazwares wants Skoosherz and similar products to no longer be sold, and for Build-A-Bear to pay “unspecified triple damages.” Build-A-Bear simply wants the court to declare that it did not infringe on “trade dress” rights and that those rights are not enforceable.
Pink panda Squishmallow
Two cute, adorable, huggable toys will be battling it out in the courts. We’ll be waiting to hear the final results. In the meantime, keep following DFB for more souvenir news.
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So what is Squishmallows doing about the unbranded Chinese knockoffs that were in any number of big box and grocery stores in Valentine Plush Assortment cases? And thinking back, they were in the Christmas assortments too.
I suspect the court will decide that Squishmallow’s claim on intellectual property rights is too vague about the styles and appearance of the toys. Now if they had some specific DESIGNS that appeared to be copied, then they’d have a case.
Which company sells their toys cheaper? That’s what I’m buying.