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13.02.2024 - 21:33 / polygon.com / Kim Kardashian
Squishmallows owner Kelly Toys is taking Build-A-Bear to court in what may be the cutest legal battle ever. Both Kelly Toys and Build-A-Bear filed respective lawsuits on Monday after Build-A-Bear started selling its Skoosherz line of plushies this year. For Kelly Toys, the problem is that Skoosherz look too much like its Squishmallows. To that, Build-A-Bear responded: You can’t trademark cute animals!
Kelly Toys filed its lawsuit in California, while Build-A-Bear filed one in Missouri. In the first lawsuit, Kelly Toys lawyers outline the Squishmallows timeline: They were released in 2016 with distinctive designs — they’re oval, usually animals, and have cute faces. Most importantly, they’re very soft and squishable. (Kelly Toys, by the way, is owned by Jazwares, which acquired the Squishmallow maker in 2020. Jazwares itself is owned by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway.) Quickly, they became popular collectibles, and were later named one of the top-selling toys of 2022.
Squishmallow culture has been covered in the New York Times, and major celebrities like Lady Gaga and Kim Kardashian collect ‘em, according to the lawsuit. [Disclosure: I have an embarrassingly large Pokémon Squishmallow collection. See above — but two are missing, big Gengar and medium Togepi.] The company also revealed that its Squishmallows line, of which there are more than 3,000, made $200 million in 2022, a 300% increase year over year. So, when Build-A-Bear first revealed its Skoosherz line — a departure from its in-store, customizable stuffed animals — the first thing people did was compare them to Squishmallows.
You can see why, no? Build-A-Bear said in its lawsuit that they aren’t copycats — they’re round, pillow-like versions of its own original plush toys. “Rather than competing fairly in the marketplace by creating its own unique concepts and product lines, Defendant Build-A-Bear, a company worth over 300 million dollars, decided that it would be easier to simply copy, imitate, and profit off the popularity and goodwill of Squishmallows, all in the hopes of confusing consumers into buying its products instead of Squishmallows,” Kelly Toys wrote in its lawsuit.
Kelly Toys has several copyrights around the toys (but not the words squish, notably), but Build-A-Bear said they aren’t valid — the claims are so broad that no competitor would be able to make pillow-like plushies should it be enforced.
“If features such as an egg/bell shape, Asian style Kawaii faces with rounded/oval shaped graphics, embroidered facial features, distinctive contrasting non-monochrome coloring, or short-pile fabric exterior were protected trade dress, it would be virtually impossible for competitors to create alternative toy designs for this
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's ongoing range of Squishmallow plushes continues to draw the eye of collectors and fans alike, especially as the variety of pocket monsters increases. While the range already includes plenty of fan favorites like Teddiursa, Piplup, and franchise mascot Pikachu, Dragon-Types have been sorely under-represented. Fortunately, that's about to change with the reveal of the official Dragonite Squishmallow plush, which is set to become very difficult to purchase.
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As part of the ongoing Pokemon lineup at Build-a-Bear, the next critter to be turned into a Build-a-Bear plush has been revealed as the Fire-type Pokemon Charizard. The newest Pokemon plush from Build-a-Bear comes as a bundle that includes a jumbo, pre-stuffed doll, and two accessories: a scarf and a hat.