HP-2020-000016 - [2025] EWHC 1451 (Ch)

The UK’s toy market is one of the largest in the world. NPD, which the parties agree is the authoritative source of market research in the toy industry, valued the UK toy market at £3.4bn in 2017. The toy experts broadly agree on the characteristics of the market. Two common themes emerge from their evidence.

The first is that the toy industry is a fashion industry. While there are established brands that enjoy consistent consumer loyalty, the success of new products is determined by consumer trends, and the fickle tastes of children cause the market to be volatile. It is thus difficult to predict whether a new toy will be successful. The experts agreed that having an innovative product was critical, although that alone was not a guarantee of success. It was common ground that most new toys fail, and the majority of new toys launched in Europe do not last in the market for more than a year. That gives rise to a “close-out” industry of wholesalers (such as Singleton) and retailers, who specialise in purchasing and re-selling underperforming stock at discount prices.

The second theme is the competitiveness of the market. A large number of manufacturers compete by offering differentiated and innovative products. The three largest manufacturers, Lego, Hasbro, and Mattel, had a combined market share on the overall toys market of only 28% in 2017.

For the purposes of its data collection in the toy market, NPD segments toys into supercategories, segments and subsegments, classes, and subclasses, allowing the performance of individual products to be measured. The present case concerns the “dolls” supercategory. That supercategory is then divided into four segments as set out in the table below: nurturing dolls and accessories (nurturing dolls), fashion dolls/accessories and role play (fashion dolls), playset dolls and accessories (playset dolls), and large dolls and accessories/furniture (large dolls). The playset dolls segment is divided into two classes: playset dolls and collectibles, and playset doll accessories. Both LOL Surprise and Worldeez fell within the playset dolls and collectibles class, shown in bold in the table.