BOTTOM LINE

Shortly after buying a tiny National City store called Pets-R-Us in 1988, Mickey Johnson discovered that his inventory included a hornet’s nest of litigation.

“They sued me,” says Johnson, they being mega-retailer Toys “R” Us. “That’s why we’re called Pet Plaza now.” The world’s largest toy chain is indefatigable in defending its trademark; it has about 200 trademark infringement suits in various phases of adjudication nationwide.

“Nobody ever used ‘R’ Us’ before Toys ‘R’ Us,” contends Paul Fields of New York’s Darby & Darby, the firm’s trademark attorney. “The courts have agreed.”

Around Los Angeles, the most high-profile Toys “R” Us skirmish involved Chatsworth-based Lamps Plus in 1983. Back then, the chain was doing business as Lamps R Us. Owner Dennis Swanson originally was inclined to take on the toy firm, but relented when he realized that he could win nothing but a Pyrrhic victory. “They would have appealed us to death,” he says. “It isn’t about legalities. It’s about who’s got the most money.”

Maybe Injunctions “R” Us would be more accurate.