Mattel drops ‘Coffee with Ken’ podcast trademark – Business News
Kenough is Kenough!
The host of the favored political podcast “Coffee with Ken” has prevailed in a weird legal skirmish with toy giant Mattel, which is dropping allegations he violated its trademark for the Ken doll from its “Barbie” franchise, The Post has discovered.
Mattel’s equally weird situation for settling the case: that “Coffee with Ken” host Ken Biberaj — who usually welcomes company like Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and billionaire David Rubinstein — doesn’t speak about toys.
Ken Biberaj at a “Coffee with Ken” occasion. YouTube/Coffee with Ken
Specfically, Mattel insisted the show not embody speak about “toys, dolls” or “fictional characters based on toys or dolls” in exchange for dropping its opposition to the host’s bid to trademark his five-year outdated show, in line with an Oct. 14 submitting with the US Patent and Trademark Office.
The podcast should proceed to cater to an “adult audience,” in line with the USPTO submitting.
Biberaj, a Washington, DC-based real estate govt and former chair of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, gladly agreed to the phrases to keep away from “further drama” and finish the six-month dispute, which was first reported by The Post.
The show “was never about dolls, toys or the beach,” Biberaj advised The Post. “It’s always been about real conversation with real people.”
Mattel didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The El Segundo, Calif.-based company beforehand claimed “it’s highly likely that a consumer will believe that [“Coffee with Ken”] may very well be the title of or associated to a Ken line” of dolls.
Mattel had pointed to its Ken Barista doll particularly — a hipster with a man bun and apron who pulls good espresso pictures.
A Ken barista doll was included in Mattel’s trademark submitting. Mattel
Ryan Gosling starred as Ken within the blockbuster Barbie film. ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
Mattel filed its objection to Biberaj’s trademark utility in May, insisting “Coffee with Ken” would “damage” the model that received a enormous increase from the blockbuster “Barbie” film by which Ryan Gosling performed a singing, rollerblading model of the title character’s perpetual paramour.
“Gov. Moore did Coffee with Ken — don’t ever think he thought he was talking to the doll,” the communication director for Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland tweeted in response to The Post’s protection in July.
Mattel’s claims have been broadly mocked — together with by The Post’s Cindy Adams, who described the toy company as “cockamamie” — and by Biberaj himself, who posted a video standing up for himself on X.
Ken Biberaj poked enjoyable of Mattel’s claims opposing his trademark submitting for his show Coffee with Ken. Instagram/coffeewithken
The podcast host, who ran for New York City Council in 2013 and whose household owns the enduring Russian Tea Room in Midtown Manhattan, stated “Coffee with Ken” is now on monitor to turn into a federally registered trademark.
Mattel is thought for tenaciously making an attempt to guard its manufacturers.
It famously tried to sue the band Aqua over their raunchy ’90s hit “Barbie Girl,” a case the Supreme Court refused to listen to in 2003. Mattel additionally squared off in opposition to Burberry, claiming its BRBY trademark sounded too close to Barbie. Burberry finally caved and dropped the applying.
