Mattel Skip-Bo. Mattel purchased Fisher-Price, Inc. in 1993, Tyco Toys, Inc. (owners of the Matchbox and Dinky Toys brands) in 1997, and Pleasant Company (maker of the American Girl brand) in 1998. Mattel purchased The Learning Company in 1999 for $3.5 billion, but sold it in 2000 at a loss. The company had a $430.9 million net loss that year. Mattel earned the first grant for Disney Princess doll licenses in 2000. In December 2000, Mattel sued the band Aqua, saying their song "Barbie Girl" violated the Barbie trademark and turned Barbie into a sex object, referring to her as a
Made in China (2009 film) Winner of the Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking award at the 2009 Newport Beach Film Festival 2009. The film focuses on a novelty inventor named "Johnson", a 20-something from Texas who has designed what he believes will be the next great novelty item. He makes contact with a Chinese manufacturer in Shanghai via Craigslist and decides to fly to China with his life savings to create his dream product. Upon arrival, his contact fails to show up or answer his phone. Johnson decides to negotiate the manufacturing contract himself, without knowledge of Chinese. Johnson explains, "every object has a story, and