In the landmark 2003 court case Toy Biz v. United States, the legal status of iconic Marvel characters hung on a technicality of U. S.
tariff law. At the time, the United States Harmonized Tariff Schedule imposed a 12 percent import tariff on 'dolls,' defined as items representing human beings. Meanwhile, generic 'toys' representing non-human creatures or monsters carried a significantly lower tariff rate of 6.
8 percent. Toy Biz, a subsidiary of Marvel Enterprises, imported millions of action figures manufactured overseas, including Spider-Man, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four. To lower their tax bill, Toy Biz filed a lawsuit arguing that mutant action figures like Wolverine, Cyclops, and Beast were not human.
Government lawyers argued that mutants were depicted as human in form and daily life. However, the U. S.
Court of International Appeals ultimately ruled in favor of Toy Biz, declaring that characters with superhuman abilities, unnatural skin colors, or claw appendages were legally 'non-human creatures.' While X-Men fans were dismayed by the declaration that mutants were legally sub-human, Marvel saved millions of dollars in import duties.