Kathi Vidal on Barbie, female innovation and IP's power
Love her or loathe her, there is no denying Barbie’s far-reaching commercial appeal or cultural impact.
This year saw US director Greta Gerwig’s interpretation of the plastic doll in a humorous, yet unequivocally feminist, film starring Margot Robbie become the summer’s biggest—and most talked about—blockbuster movie.
Created by Ruth Handler in 1959, Barbie is unquestionably a megabrand and a licensing phenomenon, and now even more so since her acclaimed silver screen debut.
However, the doll has also attracted controversy, even repulsion, over the years, facing accusations of fuelling women’s insecurities and promoting unrealistic body standards.
As medical professionals often point out: Barbie dolls, with a few exceptions, generally have body sizes that would translate to a dangerously thin body in a human woman.
In short, no woman looks like Barbie. Except, of course, Robbie.
The American dream
But US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) director Kathi Vidal has a different, more positive, take on the Barbie phenomenon.
As she tells WIPR, it can be seen as a celebration of the power of female inventorship and empowerment, as well as IP itself.
Or as the onscreen incarnation of Handler—played by Rhea Perlman—aptly puts it: “Ideas live forever”.
If Gerwig has enjoyed a remarkably good year, Vidal also has cause to look fondly back on 2023.
As well as cementing her reputation as one of the most active and decisive directors to take the helm at the US agency, she has successfully made diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) one of her core policies.
Celebrating stories such as Handler’s quest to trademark Barbie, she argues, goes a long way towards her mission of achieving greater inclusion and equity, both within the legal profession and inventorship.
“Handler is proof that anyone can achieve the American dream. The daughter of Polish-Jewish immigrants, she came up with an idea, as many Americans do, by reflecting on what more she could do for her family,” she explains.
