The recent debut of WowWee’s My Avastars doll brand is at the center of a new lawsuit filed in a San Francisco Court on behalf of Roblox Corp. and Jazwares LLC.
In the 62-page filing that was first reported on by Reuters, attorneys representing Roblox and Jazwares allege that My Avastars is a violation of Roblox’s intellectual property (IP) rights. The legal action seeks “to halt WowWee’s blatant and admitted copying of Roblox’s copyrighted works, and to put a stop to WowWee’s ongoing efforts to profit off of Roblox’s trademarks, trade dress, and hard-won reputation and success,” according to the filing. Co-plaintiff Jazwares currently serves as the master toy partner for the Roblox brand.
The Toy Book has received a statement from WowWee responding to the lawsuit, which is being published unedited and in its entirety below.
Statement from WowWee
Yesterday evening, WowWee, a family-owned toymaker responsible for the award-winning Fingerlings line, was made aware that Roblox Corporation filed a lawsuit against our company. WowWee believes that Roblox’s allegations are completely meritless and looks forward to vigorously defending its position, product, and brand.
WowWee created My Avastars dolls to bring kids offline in a hybrid model that uses the digital attributes of the increasingly popular metaverse and avatar customization into physical play. WowWee specifically designed the dolls to appeal to 7–12-year-old girls, a demographic that is far too often overlooked and excluded from the metaverse. Since Roblox began as a platform that encouraged collaboration with its users (to Roblox’s benefit), WowWee believed My Avastars would be a welcome addition to the Roblox platform. However, in June 2022, a week after WowWee publicly announced the creation of its My Avastars dolls, Roblox changed its terms of use to the detriment of the creative community.
A week later, Roblox sent a cease-and-desist letter to WowWee threatening legal action if the company continued with the launch of My Avastars dolls. WowWee has spent several weeks trying to resolve this disagreement amicably and in good faith and without needing to resort to contentious litigation. Following the cease-and-desist letter, WowWee voluntarily disassociated My Avastars from Roblox.
WowWee is a company that is focused on designing and developing toys to astonish our costumers’ imaginations, whereas Roblox’s actions today show that it is an organization driven by profit and power. Roblox’s lawsuit stands in stark contrast to the values of creativity, community, and companionship that our My Avastars dolls are designed to promote. WowWee’s focus remains on kids rather than courts.
Unfortunately, Roblox’s actions are another example of a company using litigation as a growth strategy. Despite being a publicly traded corporate giant with a multi-billion-dollar revenue stream, it is targeting a family business whose goal is to provide children with another way to express their individuality through play. Yet, as parents have been teaching their children for generations, giving into a bully encourages them to bully again. Today, WowWee intends to take a stand for the creative community. WowWee hopes you join us.
— Statement from WowWee, August 3, 2022
Gamefam, which developed the My Avastars RP game with WowWee for Roblox as a companion to the doll line is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
