Mattel v. MCA Records
| Mattel v. MCA Records | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Court | United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit |
| Full case name | Mattel, Inc. v. MCA Records, Inc. |
| Argued | December 5 2000 |
| Decided | July 24 2002 |
| Citation(s) | 296 F.3d 894 (9th Cir. 2002) |
| Case history | |
| Prior action(s) | Appeal from C.D. Cal. (28 F.Supp.2d 1120) |
| Subsequent action(s) | Request for certiorari, S.Ct.; denied (537 U.S. 1171). |
| Holding | |
| Barbie Girl is protected as a parody under the trademark doctrine of nominative use and under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. | |
| Court membership | |
| Judge(s) sitting | Dorothy Nelson, Melvin Brunetti, Alex Kozinski |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Kozinski, joined by unanimous court |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend I; Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1051 et seq) | |
Mattel v. MCA Records, 296 F.3d 894 (9th Cir. 2002), was a series of lawsuits between Mattel and MCA Records that resulted from the 1997 Aqua song, "Barbie Girl". The case was ultimately dismissed.
In December 2000, Mattel sued MCA Records, the recording company of Aqua, saying the song violated the Barbie trademark and turned Barbie into a sex object, referring to her as a "Blonde Bimbo." They alleged the song had violated their copyrights and trademarks of Barbie, and that its lyrics had tarnished the reputation of their trademark and impinged on their marketing plan. Mattel also claimed that the cover packaging of the single used "Barbie pink", a trademarked color owned by Mattel. MCA contested Mattel's claims and countersued for defamation after Mattel had likened MCA to a bank robber.
The lawsuit filed by Mattel was dismissed by the lower courts, and this dismissal was upheld. Mattel requested review by the Supreme Court of the United States, but its petition for certiorari was denied. In 2002, Judge Alex Kozinski ruled the song was protected as a parody under the trademark doctrine of nominative use and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. He also threw out the defamation lawsuit that Aqua's record company filed against Mattel. Kozinski concluded his ruling by saying, "The parties are advised to chill." The case was dismissed.
This controversy was used by journalist Naomi Klein to make a political point in her book No Logo, where she stated that the monopolies created by copyrights and trademarks are unfairly and differently enforced based on the legal budgets of the conflicting parties and their ability to defend their expressions by hiring lawyers.
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