MINNEAPOLIS - There's a big fight brewing in federal court here over a little robot.
Papa-Sans Toys Co. of Plymouth, which sells a foot-high toy called Firefighter Robot, claims in a lawsuit that a Clinton, Wash., man posted a photo of the robot on his Web site and claimed to have sold out his stock of the toy at $89 - a far lower price than that listed by Papa-San.
But Papa-San, which imports the collectible toy from China and sells it through a distributor in Pennsylvania, says William T. Conn's online store - http://www.neatstuff.net - never had any of the Papa-San firefighters to sell and that his posting made it difficult for them to sell the 200 some robots that remain.
Only 252 of the toys were made.
Plans to bring out a second firefighter robot might now be canceled out of fear they won't sell, said David Wymore, Papa-San's attorney. "This is a big deal to Papa-San," a small, privately owned company less than a year old that could find its reputation irreparably damaged, Wymore said.
It said Conn, who runs Web site, damaged Papa-San's ability to sell the robot and future products, as well as its reputation, the lawsuit says.
The ad in question appears to have vanished from the neatstuff site. Conn declined to comment.
Word travels fast among the collectors of such toys, according to the lawsuit.
"The antique and newly made collectible toy market is small, with few buyers that keep in constant contact with each other through chat-room web sites." Manufacturers "rely on their name and must maintain credibility with the small pool of buyers to maintain their business," the lawsuit said.
Jay Brotter, the North American agent and distributor for the Papa-San firefighter robot, who lists the toy at $279 at http://www.robotisland.com, said the incident has hurt business. The $89 posting has "brought up a lot of questions from other customers ... is there price-gouging going on? Is it available cheaper elsewhere?"
"I'm the only guy who has" the product, he said.
