Squishmallow and Build-a-Bear head into legal battle over ‘knock-offs’

They’re soft, cuddly, and heading into a legal battle.

They’re soft, cuddly, and heading into a legal battle. The owners of Squishmallow, the popular egg-shaped stuffed animals, filed an intellectual property lawsuit against Build-A-Bear on Monday, claiming its new “Skoosherz” line is a knock-off version of its own. Build-a-Bear fired back with its own legal complaint, claiming “Skoosherz” is its own version of a popular toy style. “Rather than competing fairly in the marketplace by creating its own unique concepts and product lines, Defendant Build-A-Bear, a company worth over 300 million dollars, decided that it would be easier to simply copy, imitate, and profit off the popularity and goodwill of Squishmallows, all in the hopes of confusing consumers into buying its products instead of Squishmallows,” the lawsuit by Jazwares and Kelly Toys said. Squishmallow creator Kelly Toys and its owner Jazwares (which itself is owned by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway) filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District in California on Monday. Launched in 2016, the now wildly popular Squishmallows were the top-selling toy in 2023, according to a Circana full-year report. Much like surges for Beanie Babies, Cabbage Patch dolls or Pound Puppies, Squishmallows have become a collectible item and developed an avid fanbase in both adults and children. Its sales totaled $200 million in 2022 alone, the lawsuit claimed. Build-A-Bear has been around for more than 25 years, and saw a strong resurgence post-pandemic, much of it fueled by older customers. It has launched an online store called “the Bear Cave” that only customers aged 18 and up can access (one bear for Valentine’s Day is in a satin robe and has a bottle of champagne); collaborations with ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Pokémon;’ and in January 2024, its trademarked “Skoosherz.”