Estrela guarantees Monopoly, but needs to destroy Super Massa

A twist in the historic rift between toy makers Hasbro and Estrela. In a decision of the TJ-SP (São Paulo Court of Justice) on the 8th, to which the leaf had access, the Brazilian Estrela was authorized to keep the brands Banco Imobiliário, Comandos em Ação and Senhora Cabeça de Batata, which were being requested by the American rival Hasbro.

On the other hand, the Brazilian will have to destroy the Super Massa clay pots, because the Justice understood that they refer to the competing brand Play-Doh, from Hasbro. Super Massa and 16 other trademarks registered by Estrela at INPI (National Institute of Industrial Property) must be transferred to Hasbro. In addition, Estrela was ordered to pay R$50 million in royalties to the American.

The ruling of the decision should be published this Monday, 14th. With that, on Tuesday (15th), the period of 30 consecutive days begins to count for the destruction of the Super Massa pots in the possession of Estrela and for the transfer of brands to Hasbro.

For the payment of royalties, Estrela will have 15 working days, starting this Tuesday. THE leaf found that both Estrela and Hasbro must appeal the decision to the STJ (Superior Court of Justice).​

Estrela and Hasbro have been business partners since the 70s, when Hasbro closed an agreement with Estrela for the Brazilian to launch its products in Brazil, with adaptations to the local market. Thus, The Game of Life became a Game of Life, Simon became Genius, GI Joe was renamed, first Falcon and later, Commandos in Action. The same happened with several other adapted products.

In 2007, Estrela reportedly stopped paying royalties to Hasbro, but continued to produce and sell the products. The American, in turn, decided to set foot in Brazil at the same time and brought a commercial representation.

Now Hasbro defends in court that the brands are its own, while Estrela says they are hers, because they were adapted and have differences from the original product.

Founded in 1923, Hasbro is among the top three toy manufacturers in the world, along with Lego and Mattel. It operates in 35 countries and in 2020 earned US$ 5.47 billion (R$ 29.6 billion). It holds the rights to commercialize names that became successful films and cartoons, such as Transformers, Peppa Pig, Power Rangers, My Little Pony and PJ Masks.

In all, it owns about 1,500 brands. In 1984, Hasbro bought the Milton Bradley Company, created by the American mogul of the same name, who released some of the most famous board games in the world, such as The Game of Life.

Estrela, founded in 1937, was for decades the largest toy factory in Brazil. It began to face problems in the 1990s, when imported products, especially from China, began to flood the national market at much lower prices than those charged by the national company. The company, which had shares on the stock exchange, went private in 2015. Its annual revenue is around R$140 million. In 2020, it had a loss of R$ 16 million.