Media & Publications

Barbie no “Virgin,” says the Supreme Court of Canada – Survey evidence must be relevant

BARBIE is a famous brand. At least that is what everyone seems to have agreed by the time Mattel brought its lawsuit to the Supreme Court of Canada. Mattel had taken issue with the owner of a small restaurant chain in the Montreal area, who sought to register the trade-mark “BARBIE’S” for the name of its restaurants. Mattel claimed that its BARBIE trade-mark for dolls is famous enough that people might confuse the two trademarks, believing that there was a licensing arrangement or other consensual business association between the two. Acknowledging the difference between dolls and restaurant services, Mattel nevertheless argued that a brand like BARBIE could “leap vast product line differences at a single bound.” ¹

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