IP News

In Pilot Corp. of America v. Fisher-Price, Inc., 04-977 (D. Conn., July 24, 2007), the District Court for the District of Connecticut granted defendant Fisher-Price's motion for summary judgment on, among other claims, plaintiff Pilot Corp. of America's ('PCA') claims for trademark and trade dress infringement. The dispute between the parties centered on the Magna Doodle ' a children's drawing toy. PCA owns a patent (the '472 patent) that covered the drawing screen used in the Magna Doodle and also owned the federally registered trademark 'Magna Doodle.'

Under a 1992 (and later amended) licensing agreement between PCA and Tyco, Tyco, and later Fisher-Price, whose parent company Mattel merged with Tyco in 1997, was granted the exclusive right to use the Magna Doodle trademark in connection with the manufacture and sale of drawing toys covered by the '472 patent. In return, Fisher-Price was obligated to purchase 100% of its annual requirement of panels for incorporation into its drawing toys bearing the 'Magna Doodle' mark. In 2003, Fisher-Price demanded a price reduction on the panels from PCA. After PCA refused, Fisher-Price failed to place a new order for panels. The agreement therefore terminated at the end of 2003. Fisher-Price then began to market and develop a replacement product called the Doodle Pro, which was nearly identical to the last version of the Magna Doodle. PCA then licensed Magna Doodle to another company that continued to sell an almost identical product as the last Fisher-Price version.