Build-A-Bear and Warren Buffett’s ‘Squishmallows’ maker square off in court

A stuffed animal fight is on, and it’s playing out in the courtroom.

Squishmallow maker Jazwares, owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, sued rival Build-A-Bear on Monday for allegedly ripping off its designs. Build-A-Bear fired back with a lawsuit of its own the same day.

In its complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court, Jazwares accused Build-A-Bear of infringing on its intellectual property rights with its new Skoosherz line of toys, saying the company “blatantly and intentionally” undermined its goodwill and created substantial confusion among consumers by copying Squishmallows’ look and feel.

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Jazwares, which Berkshire has owned since purchasing its parent company, Alleghany in October 2022, is seeking an order for Build-A-Bear to stop making Skoosherz and to pay them three times the unspecified damages.

Build-A-Bear said in its lawsuit in St. Louis federal court that Squishmallows lack a consistent look and feel, and Skoosherz are simply the most recent type of “soft, pillow-like squishie-type” toys that have been trending for years.

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Build-A-Bear wants a court declaration that it did not infringe Jazwares’ “trade dress” rights in Squishmallows, and that any such rights are unenforceable.

Neither Build-A-Bear nor its lawyers immediately responded to requests for additional comment.

Reuters contributed to this report.