UPS keeps brown-uniformed `Billy Doll' off shelves

ATLANTA - Here&#39;s a package United Parcel Service wants nothing to do with. <br> <br> ``Billy Dolls,&#39;&#39; Barbie-sized figures marketed toward gay men, have been available for at least five years wearing military and police uniforms, cowboy outfits and leather biker gear. The doll was recently introduced in a new outfit: a brown delivery-man uniform with a yellow ``bps&#39;&#39; (Billy&#39;s Parcel Service) insignia of the shirt. <br> <br> Retailers describe Billy and his pals, Carlos and Tyson, as ``anatomically correct&#39;&#39; and UPS lawyers say they are ``grotesquely so.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> One Internet merchant boasts that Billy is ``dressed in his cute little uniform and shorts that reveal those muscular legs.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Last fall, lawyers for the shipping company sent letters to retailers and to Totem International Ltd., the doll&#39;s London-based manufacturer, saying ``BPS Billy&#39;&#39; violates the UPS trademark. <br> <br> UPS spokesman Norman Black said Thursday that Totem conceded the violation and has agreed to stop producing the delivery-man versions of the dolls, which retailed for $45.95. Totem did not reply to e-mail and telephone messages requesting comment. <br> <br> Black said only BeProud.com, a San-Francisco based Internet retailer, did not respond to UPS requests that the dolls and uniforms be returned for destruction. <br> <br> Black said Billy&#39;s sexual orientation and physical attributes had nothing to do with the company&#39;s reaction. <br> <br> ``We don&#39;t care whether it&#39;s a local courier company that&#39;s wearing uniforms like ours or a doll,&#39;&#39; Black said. ``Are you infringing on our brand and logo without permission? That&#39;s the issue pure and simple.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> BeProud.com kept selling the doll until they sold out Thursday morning. <br> <br> ``We think the whole thing&#39;s really funny, and we can&#39;t believe what a big roar people are making over this,&#39;&#39; co-owner Aura said.