Summary
A federal judge has refused to dismiss a trademark suit launched by Kidrobot against Jazwares, the Berkshire Hathaway-owned company behind Squishmallows. The decision allows Kidrobot to pursue claims that Jazwares' "HugMees" product infringes Kidrobot's trademark rights in its "HUGME" plush toys.
Ruling and legal findings
U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton, who sits in Newark, New Jersey, concluded the case should move forward because it is "rife with contested facts." The judge said Kidrobot may attempt to show that the sale of HugMees could cause consumer confusion with Kidrobot's HUGME toys, which feature licensed characters such as SpongeBob and Disney's Lilo and Stitch.
In rejecting Jazwares' contention that the term HUGME is generic, Judge Wigenton noted that there are alternative descriptive words for plush toys and their hugability, listing options such as "plush," "soft," "huggable," "squishy," and "squeezable."
Procedural and factual background
Court filings state that Kidrobot began using the HUGME mark in 2017. That predates Jazwares' related activities in two stages: it was two years before Kelly Toys, associated with Jazwares, started selling HugMees, and five years before Kelly Toys registered the "Squishmallows Hug Mees" trademark, according to the filings.
Kidrobot said it did not learn Jazwares was selling HugMees until February 2023 and filed its lawsuit in July 2023. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office declined in March 2024 to allow Kidrobot to register the "HUGME" mark, citing that it would likely be confused with "Squishmallows Hug Mees" and another company's "Hug Me Now" marks.
Corporate and industry context
Jazwares is best known as the maker of Squishmallows, a line of soft plush toys launched in 2017 that gained viral popularity on TikTok during the pandemic. Jazwares' parent company, Alleghany, was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in 2022. Kidrobot is based in Hillside, New Jersey, while Jazwares operates out of Plantation, Florida.
Last August, Jazwares dropped a separate suit against Build-A-Bear Workshop that had accused the retailer of copying Squishmallows with a competing plush line called Skoosherz.
Responses and next steps
Requests for comment were not immediately answered. Jazwares' lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lawyers for Kidrobot and its parent, NECA LLC, also did not immediately respond to similar inquiries.
The judge's ruling allows discovery and further litigation over whether the HugMees products infringe Kidrobot's asserted trademark rights and whether consumers are likely to be confused.