Beanie Babies maker threatens Quake clan

The maker of Beanie Babies has threatened to sue a Quake clan for naming itself after its cuddly creations.

Ty Inc sent a letter via Washington lawyers Gardner, Carton & Douglas to the owners of domain name clanbeaniebabies.org. It instructed the company involved, Addictive Software, to "immediately cease use of the clanbeaniebabies.org domain name, and assign it to Ty Inc".

The letter claimed the site had used the names of Ty's Beanie Babies toys – which this season include offerings such as "Frigid the Penguin", "Springy the Lavender Bunny" and "Sarge the German Shepherd" – to refer to members of its clan.

The cuddly toy heavyweight was also upset at photos of its products appearing on the site.

Although the letter was sent on 24 May, the domain name was today still registered to Addictive Software. However, the site now shows only the legal letter from Gardner, Carton & Douglas. And the clan has been relegated to www.bloodbath.net.

But according to the new clan site, the Quake lovers won't give up without a fight.

The Beanie Babies clan aren't the only gamers to be having trouble with corporate America. "Localman", a Slashdot reader, claims to have received a legal threat over his clan site thebarbies.com from spoilsports Mattel.

He says he bought the non-business all-girl video game clan URL last year for his Tribes-playing wife, who often played under the name Mundane Barbie. The site remains "under construction" phase. His story can be found here. And click this way for the Slashdot thread on the subject. ®