Mattel have paid a heavy price, according to the NYT, for bringing a frivolous copyright and trademark lawsuit against an artist parodying Barbie.

"After a lengthy legal tussle, which included a series of appeals, a federal judge late last week instructed Mattel to pay Mr. Forsythe legal fees of more than $1.8 million...

...Mattel has aggressively protected the Barbie likeness and trademark...

"Plaintiff had access to sophisticated counsel who could have determined that such a suit was objectively unreasonable and frivolous," Judge Lew wrote in his order. "Instead it appears plaintiff forced defendant into costly litigation to discourage him from using Barbie's image in his artwork. This is just the sort of situation in which this court should award attorneys fees to deter this type of litigation which contravenes the intent of the Copyright Act.''

The order also characterized Mattel's claim of trademark infringement as "groundless and unreasonable.''

Jonathan Zittrain, a professor at Harvard Law School who specializes in Internet and copyright law, said, "It's enough to give corporations with brands they want to protect and expand pause to consider whether to simply reflexively unleash the hounds the minute they see somebody doing something that relates to their brand of which they don't approve.

"It may send a signal that a 'take no prisoner' litigation strategy against the little guy has new risks for the plaintiff," he said. "