Squishmallows and Build-A-Bear head into legal battle over ‘knock-off’ toys [Video]

They’re soft, cuddly, and heading into a legal battle.

The owners of Squishmallows, the popular egg-shaped stuffed animals, filed an intellectual property lawsuit against Build-A-Bear on Monday, claiming its new “Skoosherz” line is a knock-off version of its own. Build-a-Bear fired back with its own legal complaint, claiming “Skoosherz” is its own version of a popular toy style.

“Rather than competing fairly in the marketplace by creating its own unique concepts and product lines, Defendant Build-A-Bear, a company worth over 300 million dollars, decided that it would be easier to simply copy, imitate, and profit off the popularity and goodwill of Squishmallows, all in the hopes of confusing consumers into buying its products instead of Squishmallows,” the lawsuit by Jazwares and Kelly Toys said.

Squishmallows creator Kelly Toys and its owner Jazwares (which itself is owned by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway) filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District in California on Monday.

Launched in …