Toy Maker

Purimopueru is a knee-high Japanese doll with soft, apple-spotted cheeks and big, black button eyes. It comes in green and pink, and when you cuddle it, it talks back. It's for grandmothers. The doll, an award-winner at last week's Tokyo Toy Show, is generating new sales among the elderly for creator Namco Bandai Holdings Inc. as Japan's birthrate drops.

When Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire signed a law banning lead and chemicals known as phthalates from children's products in April, Amy Tucker was thrilled. As president of Matter Group, a Seattle company that makes children's games and stuffed animals out of recycled materials, Tucker knew her products were already lead- and phthalate-free. But when other states began adopting their own restrictions, she became dismayed by the emerging patchwork of regulations.

Toy maker Jakks Pacific Inc., hurt by litigation and product testing costs, reported lower quarterly profit, sending its shares down 8%. First-quarter profit fell to $877,000, or 3 cents a share, from $3.2 million, or 12 cents a share, a year earlier. Sales rose 5.5% to $130.9 million.

Top toy makers backed plans Wednesday for a mandatory global safety standard for toys to prevent unsafe products from reaching the consumer, but said it must not be a barrier to innovation or entry into the market. The European Union is mulling over new legislation in the area of toy safety, while the United States has proposed a stricter, independently verified regulation for toys after a spate of recalls -- mostly of Chinese goods -- in 2007.

Toy maker Jakks Pacific Inc. said its fourth-quarter profit climbed 48% because of strong sales of Disney toys, action figures and electronic and video games. Net income increased to $34.4 million, or $1.06 a share, from $23.2 million, or 73 cents, a year earlier, the Malibu-based company said. Revenue grew 20% to $285.1 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected a profit of 74 cents a share on revenue of $246.8 million. Shares closed up $1.15, or 4.3%, at $28.

Mattel Inc. and Jakks Pacific Inc. on Wednesday announced new deals to make wrestling action figures, the latest chapter in a story that has all the acrimony and shifting alliances of professional wrestling. Mattel has teamed with World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. to make toys based on its popular wrestlers, and Jakks is matching up with WWE rival TNA Entertainment. Both deals -- which take effect in 2010 -- are for five years.

More than 50 federal lawmakers are demanding that Mattel Inc. stop selling toys that contain any lead, saying the toy maker is not going far enough to address safety concerns. The demand was in a letter released by Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.). El Segundo-based Mattel recalled millions of Chinese-made toys last year because of concerns that lead paint exceeded U.S. standards.

The maker of Thomas & Friends toy trains has agreed to pay $30 million to settle a nationwide class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of by thousands of families that purchased lead-tainted toys, a plaintiffs' attorney said. Under the deal, Oak Brook, Ill.-based RC2 Brands will offer cash refunds or replacement toys, plus what the company calls a bonus toy; it also promises to implement new quality controls, said the lawyer, Jay Edelson. In June, RC2 began recalling about 1.5 million items in the first of several major roundups involving lead in toys made in China.

A popular toy maker is refusing to pull a lead-tainted doll from store shelves across Illinois, challenging a state law governing lead content in toys, the state says. Ty Inc., best known for its Beanie Babies, says federal law takes precedence over the Illinois statute. The state is considering suing Ty, based in suburban Chicago, to force it to comply.

Mattel Inc.'s recalls of 21 million potentially hazardous toys took a toll on the company's third-quarter results, but the world's largest toy maker said Christmas would still look a lot like Christmas.