Barbie
I watched the Barbie movie recently with the family, and I have to admit, there’s a lot of fodder in there for the trademark and copyright crowd. I won’t share any real spoilers, but here are a few fun things I noticed (not necessarily business-related):
Even though Mattel said the Barbie Girl song by Aqua would not make it into the movie, a few lines did, in a sample. This brings the Barbie Girl song saga full circle! For those who don’t know, when the original Barbie Girl song was released by Aqua, Mattel sued for trademark infringement – and lost, because it was a parody. But now, in the Barbie movie, I noticed the sample from the Barbie Girl song, near the end. Meaning Mattel had to have paid for the rights…. Oh, the irony. (I did wonder, briefly, if the very small portion of the song copied might fall under a fair use exception, ie being de minimus use, but (a) Mattel arguably used the heart of the song and (b) as it turns out, Mattel actually has licensed the song before, so I’m sure they licensed it for the film.)
Mattel went all in on the parody of themselves, and it was somehow refreshing. For example, even though they have a large number of women on their board, they presented their own megacorporation as a man’s world.
In a funny twist, I noticed that the men in the audience laughed a lot more than the women and girls. I really have no idea why, but it was an interesting enough situation that I note it here. Who is the target audience for this movie, really?
I wouldn’t say this is the best movie I’ve ever seen, but it wasn’t Indiana Jones 48 or Fast and the Furious 62, and that alone deserves some recognition. And if you're a copyright or trademark attorney, it presents a lot of interesting topics for conversation, maybe some law school exams.
Now, since the song is stuck in my head, I have to share a link.