Big Bird cries foul as Sesame Workshop demands e-commerce platforms remove counterfeit toy listings

Sesame Workshop, formerly the Children's Television Workshop which launched the iconic US children’s TV show, Sesame Street, in 1969, is suing e-commerce ‘storefronts’ hosted on shopping sites including eBay, Walmart, Amazon, AliExpress and Temu demanding that they stop the sale of what Sesame Workshop says are counterfeit toys and other merchandise infringing their IP rights.

Sesame Workshop is the global nonprofit behind Sesame Street. The organisation’s 2024 financial statements show that for the year to the end of June 2024, it earned $85.8m from distribution fees and royalties, and $33.5m from licensing.

According to a story on media website The Wrap, in the suit which was filed on February 25th 2025, the plaintiffs are demanding either that the e-commerce stores delist the allegedly infringing products, or pay $150,000 per infringement.

In the court filing, according to The Wrap, “Sesame Workshop specifically named characters Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Grover, Bert and Ernie as the main victims of this alleged racket.”

According to supply chain and brand security site, Securing Industry, “The lawsuit claims trademark infringement and counterfeiting, false designation of origin and copyright infringement and is seeking an injunction on the defendants' activities as well as damages of $2m for each and every use of the Sesame Street trademarks and $150,000 per infringed work.”

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on February 24th 2025.

The history of the IP behind The Muppets dates back to the 1950s; puppeteer Jim Henson originally created the character of Kermit the Frog in 1955 (so the little green guy is 70 this year).