Copyright Infringement:

The Miss America Organization v. Mattel, Inc., 945 F.2d 536 (2nd 1991).
There she goes, "Miss America."  In 1991 a shipment of 11 1/2 inch glamorous but--according to their maker--wholesome, high fashion dolls were detained in customs because of a striking resemblance to Barbie.  These dolls were ordered by the Miss America Organization, via Kenner Corporation. When Kenner began importing its "Miss America" line of dolls into the United States, Mattel asked U.S. Customs to detain them. Kenner and the Miss America Organization responded by suing Mattel and United States Customs in federal court.

This case is a really insightful look at the interplay of the administrative procedures of US Customs seizing items that Customs deems infringing and comparing that to the copyright infringement standards applied in federal court.

Christian v. Mattel, Inc., 286 F.3d 1118 (9th Cir. 2002)
Barbie must have deep pockets in the Executive Barbie outfit because Mattel was sued for copyright infringement of the doll design owned by Harry R. Christian.  This appeal takes an interesting look at what it takes to violate Rule 11 in bringing a frivolous lawsuit when claiming copyright infringement.

"In its sanctions orders, the district court found that Hicks should have discovered prior to commencing the civil action that Mattel's dolls could not have infringed Christian's copyright because, among other things, the Mattel dolls had been created well prior to the Claudene doll and the Mattel dolls had clearly visible copyright notices on their heads. After determining that Hicks had behaved "boorishly" during discovery and had a lengthy rap sheet of prior litigation misconduct, the district court imposed sanctions."

Mattel, Inc. v. Goldberger Doll Manufacturing Co., 365 F.3d 133 (2nd Cir. 2004)
Radio City created a doll, which it named the "Rockettes 2000" doll. Mattel brought this suit alleging that in designing the Rockette doll, Radio City infringed its copyrights by copying facial features from two different Barbie dolls-"Neptune's Daughter Barbie," registered in 1992, and "CEO Barbie," registered in 1999. The Court stated "it is not reasonably subject to dispute that the Rockette doll is, in several respects including central features of the face, quite similar to the Barbie dolls."

"Believing that copyright protection did not extend to Barbie's eyes, nose, and mouth, the court excluded similarity as to those features from the determination whether there was substantial similarity between plaintiff's and defendant's dolls. [The District Court] concluded in comparing the other parts of the respective heads that there was no substantial similarity and therefore entered summary judgment for the defendant."

The Court of Appeals found the District Court ruling erroneous and that the facial features are protected by copyright and specifically the facial expressions of Barbie are protected.