Teletubbies take on Wal-Mart's Bubbly Chubbies

NEW YORK, March 22 (Reuters) - First Teletubbies had to worry about evangelist Jerry Falwell accusing purple Tinky Wink of being gay and now the British television characters allege that Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE:WMT - news) is ripping them off.

On Monday the makers of Teletubbies filed a copyright infringement suit against Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart,the world's largest retail store chain, alleging its Bubbly Chubbies are unauthorized copies.

The suit was filed in Manhattan federal court by Ragdoll Productions (UK) Ltd of Buckinghamshire, England, and its New York licensing agent, Itsy Bitsy Entertainment Co.

``The 'Bubbly Chubbies' characters are obvious, studied knock-offs of the famous Teletubbies characters,'' the suit alleged.

``The name 'Bubbly Chubbies' was deliberately chosen to rhyme with 'Teletubbies' and to communicate to children and their parents that the Bubbly Chubbies characters are 'chubby' or 'tubby,' and have the same or similar attributes and evoke the same good will as the genuine 'Teletubbies','' it further alleged.

The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, alleged that Wal-Mart is trying to confuse consumers and sometimes displays the lower-priced Bubbly Chubbies right next to Teletubbies.

The popular Teletubbies series was first broadcast on the BBC in 1997 and it currently airs or is scheduled to air in about 120 different countries and in 21 different languages and dialects.

The series focuses on the four Teletubbies characters Tinky Winky, Laa-Laa, Po and Dipsy. These ``technological babies'' all have television screens in their bellies and are designed so that their faces all have an ``extraplanetary appearance,'' the suit said.

Each character wears a one-piece, hooded pajama-like suit and has a different antenna-like protrusion extending upoward from the top of its head. For example, Tinky Winky's antenna is triangular shaped, which Falwell recently wrote in his monthly magazine was evidence that the character is gay. (He has since denied ``outing'' Tinky Wink)

Ragdoll said that there had been a great demand for merchandise bearing the Teletubbies characters because of the success of the series. Itsy Bitsy has reviewed requests by companies wishing to use the characters and has entered into about 60 licensing agreements in the United States.

The agreements include contracts with toy makers Playskool, a division of Hasbro Inc. (AMEX:HAS - news), and Applause to reproduce Teletubbies characters in various sizes.

The suit alleges that this month Wal-Mart began selling a line of four figures called ``Bubbly Chubbies.''

The suit charges that like Teletubbies, the Bubbly Chubbies all wear one-piece hooded suits and the faces have an``extraplanetary appearance.''

Ragdoll alleges that even the packaging is an ``obvious ripoff'' of the Teletubbies packaging with the characters presented against a blister card background containing drawings of a green grass field with colorful flowers.