SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the but-is-her-dress-yellow-or-black? dept.
A Fox News anchor is suing a US toy company, Hasbro, for more than $5m (£3.3m) over a toy hamster that she says resembles her and shares her name. Harris Faulkner said the company's portrayal of her as a plastic hamster "was demeaning and insulting". She filed a legal case saying the toy resembled her traditional professional appearance, including complexion, eye shape and eye make-up design. The toy is part of the company's popular Littlest Pet Shop collection. It was first introduced in 2014, according to legal documents (pdf) obtained by entertainment news website Deadline. The legal case, which was filed at a district court in New Jersey on Monday, said Hasbro had "wilfully and wrongfully appropriated Faulkner's unique and valuable name and distinctive persona for its own financial gain". It said Mrs Faulkner, who has been a Fox News anchor for 10 years, had never given the toy manufacturer permission to use her name or likeness and in January demanded they stop using the product. But three weeks later, it said, the doll was still available on the Hasbro website.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34133723
Original Submission
(Score: 3, Informative) by CirclesInSand on Friday September 04 2015, @01:07AM
Trademark only extends to the scope of the industry. Their legal department would only have to check if there were other toys with that name. They don't have to check if there are other people, airlines, flute manufacturers, or shoe makers.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Bogsnoticus on Friday September 04 2015, @04:51AM
Given how much of Faux News is a joke, and thus should be used for entertainment purposes only, I think the trademark would extend across to the toy.
Genius by birth. Evil by choice.