Key figures within the US toy community have spoken out against the legal action taken by Toys R Us in the US.

The two logos can be seen here, as depicted by ABC13 Eyewitness News.

Toyz, a family-owned toy store in Houston Texas, has been sued by Toys R Us for claims of trademark violations. Toyz has served Houston communities for almost 20 years, after its owner, Farida Afzal, immigrated there from Pakistan.

Toys R Us ran a store in the Galleria Mall in Houston, close to the previous Toyz location. When Toys R Us went into administration and moved out of the mall, the Galleria management gave the Afzal family a chance to expand. They moved the Toyz store to the former Toys R Us location and continued operating. Toys R Us had left behind a treehouse and some signage; Toyz did not want to throw away property which was not theirs, and some items (including the treehouse) were immovable so they remained instore.

In 2021, out of the blue, the family got a multi-page cease and desist letter from the new Toys R Us owners. In the letter, attorneys at Houston’s Baker Botts firm told the Afzals that their Toyz logo was multi-coloured and in a bubble font, which they claimed was “too similar to Toys R Us.” They also accused the family of keeping the old Toys R Us décor in the store, confusing customers. Toys R Us demanded that Toyz pay a percentage of sales for all the time Toyz has used its current logo.

Toyz has been trapped in a costly and time-consuming legal battle for months and has been forced to spend tens of thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees and legal costs.

Now, prominent members of the US toy community are making the issue public and calling on Toys R Us to drop the lawsuit.

Posting on LinkedIn, Learning Express franchise owner Rick Derr commented: “David and Goliath once again? We need more toy stores in America not less. Going after small indies is not the way to grow and help our industry. I know there are always two sides to an issue, but the gist of this one – that Toyz is infringing – is hypocritical at best. Toys R Us left fixtures in the space and the mall offered it up. Any retailer would have taken the space to serve the community Toys R Us left.”

Numerous people have commented on Rick’s post, reinforcing the belief that Toys R Us should withdraw its claim. MGA’s Isaac Larian said: “Typical big dogs with deep pockets trying to kill the small entrepreneur”, while Toy Book editor in chief James Zahn commented: “Yo, Yehuda Shmidman — you guys need to knock this stuff off. The industry is rooting for TRU in the US, but this isn’t cool. You left your fixtures behind and they’ve been considered to be abandoned property. If you didn’t want another retailer to use them, they should’ve been removed and destroyed.”

A petition has also been started, asking Toys R Us to drop the lawsuit which can be found here.