DISTANT relatives of the late Mexican artist Frida Kahlo have won a temporary injunction to stop sales of a Frida Barbie doll.
Kahlo's great-niece, Mara de Anda Romeo, argues that manufacturer Mattel does not have the rights to use Kahlo's image as part of its Inspiring Women series.
According to a copy of the ruling, the toymaker and department stores in Mexico must stop selling the doll until the issue is resolved.
Pablo Sangri, a lawyer for Ms Anda Romeo, said those named in the suit can appeal against the ruling.
Mattel has said it worked with the Panama-based Frida Kahlo Corp, which it claims has rights to the artist's image.
The corporation said it got the rights through Kahlo's niece, Isolda Pinedo Kahlo, more than a decade ago.
Critics also say the doll does not reflect Kahlo's heavy, nearly conjoined eyebrows, and its costume does not accurately portray her elaborate Tehuana-style dresses.
Barbie is an American icon that has often been criticised as promoting an unrealistic body image and consumerist lifestyle. Kahlo was a lifelong communist who died in 1954, before the Barbie doll was introduced.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here