Frida Kahlo Family Sues To Block Barbie
Image by Getty Images
A Mexican judge has blocked a company associated with U.S. toymaker Mattel Inc from commercializing the image of artist Frida Kahlo, her family says, as it seeks to halt sales of a Barbie doll styled after the influential artist.
Mattel, which manufactures Hot Wheels toys and Barbies, launched an “inspiring women” series of dolls featuring the late painter in March.
The company said at the time that it had reached an agreement to manufacture the doll with the Frida Kahlo Corporation, which says on its website that it owns the trademark rights to the artist’s image worldwide.
But Mara Romero, Kahlo’s grand niece, has told local media the rights belong to her and her family.
In a Twitter post on Wednesday, the family’s official account, @FridaKahlo, wrote that a Mexico City judge had ordered the Frida Kahlo Corporation to stop using the “brand, image and work of the illustrious painter Frida Kahlo” without permission from the owner of the rights.
Reuters was unable to determine to which court the family was referring, and the family did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did representatives for Mattel in Mexico or the Frida Kahlo Corporation.
Kahlo’s image and her extensive body of work have been widely commercialized as the artist’s popularity has grown.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
