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Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner has launched a legal battle with a tiny toy hamster.
On Monday, Faulker sued Hasbro Inc. in New Jersey District Court for $5 million dollars for “creating, manufacturing, distributing for sale a plastic toy hamster named ‘Harris Faulkner’ as part of Hasbro’s ‘Littlest Pet Shop’ product line.”
Faulkner, a 6-time Emmy winning journalist and anchor of Fox Report Weekend, contends in the lawsuit that the plastic hamster doll, just a few inches-tall (deemed a “CHOKING HAZARD” on its packaging), with large cartoonish eyes and a butterfly resting on its head, has “caused substantial commercial and emotional damage to Faulkner” and implies “falsely Faulkner’s association with, approval, and endorsement of Hasbro and/or the Harris Faulkner Hamster Doll and has violated Faulkner’s right to control the use of her name and likeness.”
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The lawsuit, which asserts that Hasbro “willfully and wrongfully appropriated Faulkner’s unique and valuable name and distinctive persona for its own financial gain” goes on to cite Faulkner’s many achievements over her decade-long career. Highlights include her coverage of many major news stories “from the death of Whitney Houston, to the trial of George Zimmerman for killing Trayvon Martin, and the Emanuel A.M.E. Church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina.” The lawsuit also mentions her role as anchor of “key moments of FNC’s political coverage, including the 2013 government shutdown, the 2013 State of the Union Address, the 2012 vice presidential debate, and the 2012 election night.”
Hasbro and News Corp. didn’t immediately respond to request for comment.
The full court papers are available here via NBC News.
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