In September 2015, journalist Harris Faulkner sued Hasbro Inc. for unlawfully using her likeness to sell a toy hamster with winged eyeliner. At least that’s what she asserted in the filing. Faulkner’s lawsuit claimed that a yellow hamster that shared her name, Harris Faulkner, was an illegal maneuver by the company to capitalize on her name and likeness. Her complaint stemmed from the toy company “creating, manufacturing, and distributing for sale a plastic toy hamster named ‘Harris Faulkner'” (via NBC News). It also claimed, among other things, that Hasbro, “willfully and wrongfully appropriated Faulkner’s unique and valuable name and distinctive persona for its own financial gain.”
Hasbro then asked to have Faulkner’s lawsuit, along with her request for $5 million in damages, thrown out in court. In the filing, which NBC News included in its update on the case, Hasbro broke down what it believed to be key differences between their product and Faulkner: “As demonstrated by even a cursory comparison of Ms. Faulkner and the Hamster Toy, the two look nothing alike.” Underneath a split shot of the Fox News host and the toy, the filing continued, “First, Ms. Faulkner is an adult, African American, human, female newscaster; the toy hamster is an inch-tall, cartoon-like plastic animal, which has no apparent gender or profession, or even clothing that might identify its gender or profession.”
Despite pushback from the company, Faulkner walked away with a settlement.
Hasbro settled with Harris Faulkner
Harris Faulkner took on a huge company and won. Okay, maybe “won” is a stretch, given that she settled with Hasbro. While she initially wanted her fate to be decided by a jury in a trial, she and Hasbro Inc. reached a settlement roughly a year after she launched the lawsuit. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the parties came to a private agreement — which has yet to be made public — in October 2016, months after a judge blocked Hasbro’s attempt to throw out the initial lawsuit. Unfortunately, this means there’s no way to know whether or not Faulkner received the $5 million she believes she deserved.
Regardless of Faulkner’s triumph, the Fox News anchor didn’t manage to garner much online sympathy. Underneath one of several Reddit threads inspired by her legal battle, fans unleashed on the anchor for launching what they felt to be a frivolous lawsuit. “So how has a toy having the same name as her caused $5M worth of damage to her life?” commented one user. “Oh that’s right it hasn’t, she’s just being a greedy s***.” Meanwhile, a second user doubted the validity of Faulkner’s argument. “It’s a stretch on the likeness thing,” they wrote. “Harris Faulkner sounds like such a randomized name that I wouldn’t be surprised that a name generator came up with it and slapped it on the toy.” They continued, “Hasbro should come out and say that and make her seem like more of a joke.”
