Ty Said to Have Paid Settlement in Toy Dispute

Roary the Lion may turn out to be the most costly of the collectible Beanie Babies plush toys--at least for its creator Ty Inc.

Ty Inc. has paid $1.35 million to Los Angeles-based Imperial Toy Corp. to settle federal trademark infringement allegations, sources say. Imperial, which makes a line of bean bag toys called Friendly Pebble Pets, claimed in court documents that it introduced a Roary the Lion in July 1996--nearly a year before Ty came out with its version in May 1997.

Westmont, Ill.-based Ty didn’t admit any wrongdoing in the Oct. 21 settlement, which attorneys for both sides described as confidential. Ty attorney James P. White confirmed that Ty made a monetary payment to Imperial but wouldn’t discuss the amount.

The settlement allows Ty and Imperial to continue selling Roarys, attorneys said.

Nonetheless, Ty “retired,” or ceased production, of its Roary in December--less than two months after the settlement.

“I don’t know, but it could have been Ty’s way of dealing with the lawsuit, like ‘We don’t want to deal with the mess any more,’ ” said Vicky Krupka, who writes articles full time for Beanie Mania magazine and has been following the phenomenon for three years.

This is just the latest chapter in the feisty bean bag wars. In 1997, Imperial paid Ty $290,400 after being accused of copyright infringement and agreed to stop selling eight of its Friendly Pebble Pets.

In Roary’s case, Krupka said, the retirement eventually could affect the value of the $5 toy.

Ty regularly retires Beanie Babies, fueling demand for the popular stuffed animals. Some rare Beanie Babies go for as much as $5,000 each.

But don’t expect Roarys to appreciate much yet.

Despite its circumstances--the retirement and a two-week period in October when the federal judge hearing the suit in Chicago forced Ty to stop selling its lion--there’s no shortage of Beanie Baby Roarys.

Unlike Beanie Babies such as Doodles and Tabasco, whose manufactured lives were cut to less than half a year by lawsuits, Krupka said Roary’s 19-month life means at least 100,000 of his cub brothers are already roaming.

“That’s not terribly rare,” said Krupka.

That brings Roary’s value to between $8 and $10, according to the latest edition of Beanie Mania. On the Internet, some groups are charging as much as $19 for the lion.