Band can keep rockin' with 'Barbie Girl'
By The Associated Press,
freedomforum.org staff
07.27.02
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court has declined to reinstate a lawsuit from Mattel Inc. alleging the rock song "Barbie Girl" infringed on the toymaker's doll patent.
On July 24, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court that the song was a parody and refused to allow the lawsuit to proceed.
Mattel sued MCA Records Inc. and others who helped produce and market the song, which includes the phrase, "I'm a blonde bimbo girl in a fantasy world." The maker of Barbie claimed the song by the Danish band Aqua violated Mattel's copyright and that the song confused consumers into thinking Mattel backed the Top 40 composition.
MCA also sued Mattel for defamation while the suit was pending. Mattel, the court wrote, said MCA's alleged trademark violation was a "crime."
The 9th Circuit panel upheld a federal judge’s ruling that threw out the defamation suit and the trademark suit.
Judge Alex Kozinski, writing for the panel in Mattel v. MCA, began the opinion by writing: “If this were a sci-fi melodrama, it might be called Speech-Zilla meets Trademark Kong.”
Later in the opinion he wrote, "The parties are advised to chill."
The appeals court said no one would think Mattel had anything to do with the song.
"Nor, upon hearing Janis Joplin croon 'Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz' would we suspect that she and the carmaker had entered into a joint venture,” Kozinski wrote.
"To be sure, MCA used Barbie's name to sell copies of the song… . However . . . the song also lampoons the Barbie image and comments humorously on the cultural values Aqua claims she represents" which is protected expression under the First Amendment.
It was the second blow to Mattel over its Barbie trademark in 18 months.
In February 2001, the 9th Circuit ruled that a Utah artist can continue using Barbie dolls in his photographic renderings, some of which depict dolls posed in sexual positions. In that case, Mattel sought to bar Tom Forsythe from using the doll in his photographs and from selling the photos as postcards.