Barbie Girl can go party without upsetting Barbie's mark

In the song which became Aqua's biggest success, singer Lene Nystroem portrayed Barbie and was enticed to "go party" by a male singer representing Ken, Barbie's plastic boyfriend. The lyrics include the lines:

I'm a Barbie girl in the Barbie world
Life in plastic, it's fantastic
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere
Imagination, life is your creation

I'm a blonde single girl in the fantasy world
Dress me up, take your time, I'm your dollie
You're my doll, rock and roll, feel the glamour and pain
Kiss me here, touch me there, hanky-panky

Mattel sued MCA claiming that the song, which sold an estimated 1.4 million copies in the US, was infringing on its trade mark by confusing consumers and diluting the value of the Barbie brand. MCA, Mattel argued in its suit, ran television ads for the song during morning and after-school children's shows.

According to Mattel, the advertising materials used the same bright pink colour that it uses to package Barbie dolls, and MCA made promotional videos with scenes resembling Barbie products.

These practices, the toy maker claimed, confused pre-teen girls, the target market for Barbie dolls, to believe that the song was an advertisement for the doll or part of Mattel's official line of products.

Mattel also claimed it received e-mails from young girls believing that Barbie was performing the song, and asking for copies.

MCA's defence was that the song was a "social commentary," and therefore protected by constitutional provisions for free speech. Also, the label pointed out that the album included a disclaimer stating that the song was not associated with Mattel.

In 2002, a US appeals court in San Francisco dismissed Mattel's lawsuit. The court accepted that MCA used Barbie's name to sell records.

It found, however, that the song also commented "humorously on the cultural values Aqua claims [Barbie] represents." This expression is, the court ruled, protected by the First Amendment rights to free speech.

No one hearing the song could be misled into believing that it was related to Mattel, the appeals judge said.

"Nor, upon hearing Janis Joplin croon, 'Oh Lord, wont' you buy me a Mercedes-Benz,' would we suspect that she and the carmaker had entered into a joint venture", said the court in its decision, San Francisco Chronicle's SFGate.com reports.

The toy maker appealed the ruling. On Monday, however, the US Supreme Court denied without comment Mattel's request to re-examine the case.

Mattel's lawyer reportedly said that the court did not consider the facts of the case, and that therefore the ruling should not affect the company's efforts "to protect its valuable intellectual property."