Barbie is getting all bent out of shape over a porn star toying with her good name online.
Doll-maker Mattel, which has come under legal and financial siege over the recall of 19 million Chinese-made toys, this week filed its own lawsuit – against the Web site of an adult film star named China Barbie.
Mattel charges that the squeaky-clean image of Barbie is being tainted by her slutty cyberspace doppelganger.
The suit, filed in Manhattan federal court, names Global China Networks and Terri Gibson of Hollywood, Fla.
“This domain name is ‘confusingly similar’ to and ‘dilutive of’ the Barbie trademarks,” the suit charges. “Global has damaged the reputation, business and good will of Mattel.”
China Barbie’s $19.95-a-month site describes her as a “cordial young lady” who sat behind the desks of some of the world’s leading investment-banking firms and advertising agencies in New York before getting into porn. Her filmography includes “Me Luv You Long Time,” “Ethnic Cheerleaders 8” and “Passport to Paradise.”
A telephone message left for Gibson yesterday was not immediately returned, and an e-mail sent to China Barbie through the Web site bounced back.
The suit claims that the “cyber-squatting” violates federal law, and that the toy firm is entitled to “an order transferring the domain name’s registration to Mattel, as well as to statutory damages” of between $1,000 and $100,000.
The suit also asks for “monetary recovery,” including triple Global’s profits on the site, damages and lawyers’ fees.
It doesn’t specify the amount.
The toy company also asks for an injunction to shutter the porn site because of the “harm to [Mattel’s] good will and reputation in the marketplace, for which money cannot compensate.”
Mattel announced its Chinese-made toy recall last week because of safety concerns.
On Monday, the company was sued in an attempt to force it to set up a fund to pay for testing children who may have been exposed to lead poisoning from the toys, according to a Los Angeles-based lawyer who is seeking class-action status. With Post Wire Services