There’s a fuzzy, squishy battle brewing in the toy world between the popular plush Squishmallows and Build-A-Bear Workshop.
Despite their adorable, cushiony appearance, Squishmallows bared its teeth on Monday and filed a copyright lawsuit against Build-A-Bear in California. The lawsuit claims Build-A-Bear’s new round, velvety stuffies, called Skoosherz, are a blatant “knockoff” of Squishmallows, which are made by the company Jazwares.
Both Squishmallows and Skoosherz are round pillows with cartoon faces, most commonly designed to look like animals.
“Build-A-Bear has gone to great lengths to copy the distinct look, feel and tactile design to capitalise on Squishmallows’ global success blatantly and intentionally,” Jazwares alleged in its lawsuit.
Jazwares argued that Skoosherz infringed on Squishmallows’ “trade dress” rights, a form of intellectual property trademark used to protect a unique product design.
“When it comes to intellectual property rights, imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery,” a lawyer for Jazwares told the Guardian.
Build-A-Bear launched its Skoosherz product line last month. The designs include five pillowy animal offerings: an axolotl, a frog, a raptor, a rainbow teddy bear and a pink cow.
There have been more than 1,000 Squishmallow designs created and sold since the product launched in 2017.
Already, Build-A-Bear has initiated a retaliative lawsuit against Jazwares in Missouri to try and establish Skoosherz as its own huggable entity, completely separate from the commercial success of Squishmallows. Build-A-Bear argued its Skoosherz are simply an extension of the company’s existing plush offerings.
After launching in 2017, Squishmallows became an international sensation. Despite the number of years that have passed since the launch, Squishmallows still often top must-have toy lists for the Christmas season and birthdays, with new, collectable designs regularly released by the company.
Squishmallows aren’t only popular with school-aged children. On TikTok, adult Squishmallow fanatics have shared their massive collections online. Since 2021, “Squishmallow hunting” has become a popular genre of social media content that sees consumers search for specific or rare types of Squishmallows in their local stores.
Even Kim Kardashian has a Squishmallow collection with her daughter North West. In a video posted to Kardashian’s Instagram page in January 2022, the reality star boasted she and her daughter just added “five new babies” to their hoard.
This is not the first time Jazwares has sought legal action over alleged Squishmallow copycats.
In 2023, a judge in New York ruled that the giant e-commerce provider Alibaba would have to face a lawsuit from Jazwares alleging counterfeit Squishmallows were sold on its website. The lawsuit came as part of a legal move from Jazwares to stop about 90 e-commerce companies from selling fake versions of the plushies.
In 2021, Jazwares’ sales topped US$1 billion, with about 40 per cent of that revenue coming from Squishmallows, Reuters reported. More than 100 million Squishmallows were sold that year alone.
Billionaire Warren Buffett in 2022 purchased Jazwares’ parent company, Alleghany.
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