Filipina Girl From New Zealand Takes Her Slime Show International After Fending Off Nickelodeon Lawsuit

Trademark

from the slimeballs dept

Update: As a reader helpfully pointed out in the comments, the original source article for this post incorrectly suggested that Weischede had defeated Viacom in a legal battle. In the link included in the comment, which provides far more detail, it turns out that this was resolved when Viacom dropped its opposition as opposed to having it defeated. I have left in the original post and inputted this update for the sake of clarity.

You may not recall the name Katharina Weischede, but we wrote about this Filipina teenager from New Zealand back in 2018, when Viacom decided to oppose the 13 year old on trademark grounds because she dared to make and sell “slime” as a business. More specifically, Katharina has earned the nickname in New Zealand of “Slime Princess”, which is what she applied for in her trademark application. Viacom opposed the application, citing that its Nickelodeon division has trademark rights for “slime” in the country already.

It was an absurd opposition on every level, from Katharina’s company carrying something like a $20k valuation at the time, to the overly broad mark which Viacom was purporting to be protecting, to the pure PR nightmare that was getting into a legal battle with a bright teenager looking to start a fun business.

And, to make the whole thing worse, The Slime Princess (TM) defeated Viacom at the trademark office.

Katharina, however, stood her ground and started an campaign via a Givealittle page to raise money for a legal battle with the entertainment giants to keep her trademark. According to her, the support she received from kids and adults all over New Zealand have really inspired her to fight for her passion.

After a grueling legal battle, Katharina prevailed in court and has slain the giant that threatened her kingdom of slimes. Nearly two years after the case, she now continues to make her own creations of slimes and builds an army of fans and supporters via her own platforms and networks to continue bringing smiles in the faces of young kids and even adults.

And, far from simply taking the win and staying silent, she is taking her show on the road. Katharina is visiting the Philippines to share the story of her business, including the legal struggle with Viacom, to other young entrepreneurs. At 13, she has a legal victory over a massive entertainment company on her belt, not to mention her story in starting her own business at that age to begin with. It’s a cool story and one that hopefully will highlight to others that standing up to big businesses is in fact possible.

She will be staying in the country for a few days to meet with kids, share her stories, play with them and make fun slimes.

“It’s going to be a an amazing experience here. I’ve always looked forward to sharing it with the kids here in the Philippines. I dreamt of experiencing it here, and now I am here, this is going to be different and special.”

Slime-on, Slime Princess (TM).

Filed Under: katharina weischede, new zealand, nickleodian, philippines, slime, slime princess
Companies: viacom