Does Louis Vuitton’s catalog of goods, which includes a $5,700 trunk-shaped clutch, also feature a slime-filled poop-shaped toy purse? A new lawsuit says obviously not.
In a complaint filed in federal court last week, Los Angeles-based MGA Entertainment, maker of the $59.99 toy purse known as “Pooey Puitton,” argued that the purse does not infringe on Louis Vuitton’s intellectual-property rights and should be protected as parody.
“On or around December 7, 2018, Louis Vuitton claimed to one of MGA’s customers that the Pooey name and Pooey product infringed upon or diluted one or more of Louis Vuitton trademarks,” the complaint reads, going on to assert that “no reasonable consumer would mistake the Pooey product for a Louis Vuitton handbag.”
“The use of the Pooey name and Pooey product in association with a product line of ‘magical unicorn poop’ is intended to criticize or comment upon the rich and famous, the Louis Vuitton name, the LV marks, and on their conspicuous consumption,” MGA states.
While Louis Vuitton, which does have copyright and trademark protections for its signature monogram pattern, did not initiate litigation against MGA, the toymaker justified its suit by citing Louis Vuitton’s “history of not respecting parody rights in the US and filing vexatious lawsuits against such protected parody.”
Indeed, this is far from Louis Vuitton’s first trademark spat: In 2014, the company sued My Other Bag for the company’s depictions of Louis Vuitton designs on canvas tote bags (it ultimately lost).
Nor is this MGA’s first foray into court. The toymaker is still mired in a legal battle with Mattel over the initial designs for MGA’s Bratz dolls, which Mattel claims it stole. MGA has also been involved in multiple suits against online retailers it accused of knowingly selling counterfeit versions of its wildly popular L.O.L. Surprise! products.