Ty Inc. v. Pop Mart — Court Blocks Chinese Collectible Maker From Selling ‘Pucky’ Figures That Infringe Beanie Baby Trademarks

Background

Ty Inc. is the company behind the Beanie Baby phenomenon — the iconic small plush toys with characteristic bean-bag filling, tag system, and distinctive visual presentation that became a global collecting craze in the 1990s and retain a devoted following today. Pop Mart Americas Inc. is the U.S. arm of Pop Mart International Group, a Chinese designer-toy company known for its collectible blind-box figurine lines sold in retail stores and online.

Ty sued Pop Mart, alleging that Pop Mart’s “Pucky” figurine line — small, rounded collectible characters sold through retail stores and blind-box packaging — infringed Ty’s registered Beanie Baby trademarks and misappropriated Ty’s distinctive trade dress. Ty moved for a preliminary injunction to block sales of the Pucky line while the case was litigated.

The Court’s Holding

Judge Sharon J. Coleman granted the preliminary injunction on June 9, 2026. The court found that Ty demonstrated a likelihood of success on both its trademark infringement and trademark dilution claims. On infringement, the court found a likelihood of consumer confusion between Pop Mart’s Pucky figures and Ty’s Beanie Baby trade dress and marks. On dilution, the court found that Ty’s Beanie Baby mark qualifies as a “famous” mark entitled to protection against dilution by blurring, and that Pop Mart’s similar products likely blur the distinctiveness of that famous mark.

The court also found that Ty would suffer irreparable harm from continued sales of the competing products during litigation, that the balance of hardships favored an injunction, and that the public interest supported one. The preliminary injunction remains in effect during the pendency of the litigation.

Key Takeaways

• Famous-mark status under the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1125(c)) provides broader protection than ordinary trademark rights — a famous mark can be protected from dilution even without proof of likely confusion, making the threshold for injunctive relief lower for iconic brands.
• Collectible toy trade dress — encompassing the size, shape, texture, and packaging presentation of items like Beanie Babies — is protectable intellectual property, and competitors must design their products to be clearly differentiated.
• The growing U.S. market for Chinese designer toys (Funko, Pop Mart, and others) is generating increasing IP friction with incumbent toy and collectibles brands that have registered trade dress and famous marks.
• Preliminary injunctions in trademark cases are powerful: they can freeze sales of a competing product for years while litigation proceeds, effectively removing the product from the market before any final judgment on the merits.

Why It Matters

Pop Mart has aggressively expanded in the U.S. market, opening retail stores and achieving viral popularity through its blind-box collectible model. This ruling is a significant check on that expansion: a preliminary injunction blocking the Pucky line could cost Pop Mart substantial revenue during the pendency of what may be a multi-year litigation. For the broader collectible and designer-toy industry, the case signals that legacy toy IP holders like Ty are actively monitoring and challenging products that share trade dress characteristics with their flagship lines. Companies entering the U.S. collectible toy market should conduct careful freedom-to-operate analyses before launching products with any visual similarity to established American brands.