Washington Artist’s ‘Angry Birds’ Lawsuit Goes Forward

A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a Seattle, Wash. artist who designed a line of plush pet toys called “Angry Birds.”

Juli Adams designed the plush “Angry Birds” toys in 2006 for The Hartz Mountain Corp., a New Jersey-based pet products company. In her lawsuit, Adams says that three years later Hartz licensed her intellectual property, without telling her, to the Finnish company that makes the insanely popular video game of the same name.

Adams says Hartz cheated her out of millions of dollars when it did so.

Hartz asked U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik to dismiss the case, but the judge declined. In an order Monday, he said Adams makes a plausible case that she retained intellectual property rights in the “Angry Birds” trademark.