Mattel sues to keep Barbie off porn site

From the Associated Press
August 22, 2007

Toy maker Mattel Inc. went to court Tuesday to declare that the name of its clean-cut Barbie dolls doesn't belong on a model's pornographic website.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Mattel said the website for an adult entertainer named China Barbie has tried to benefit from El Segundo-based Mattel's success with the doll.

China Barbie's site says she is a "cordial young lady" who worked at some of the world's leading investment banking firms and ad agencies before getting into porn.

The site is registered to Global China Networks and operated by Terri Gibson of Hollywood, Fla., the suit said. It said Global China Networks used a domain name containing the word "barbie" in a "bad faith attempt to profit from Mattel's Barbie trademarks."

******

Seems a bit odd to me that, through the years, a number of adult models and performers have used "Barbie" as part of their stage names, but Mattel is choosing to sue this "Barbie" now. Surely they were all trying to "benefit from... Mattel's success with the doll". Must have more to do with the domain name than the stage name.