new york seven years ago when tom forsythe an artist and photographer was searching for a subject for a new project he settled on barbie ultimately producing a series of 78 photographic images of the wildly famous doll showing her nude and sometimes posed provocatively in or around various household appliancesi thought the pictures needed something that really said crass consumerism and to me thats barbie forsythe said the doll is issued in every possible role you can imagine and comes with every possible accessory for each and every roleforsythe developed a theme that he called barbies power as a beauty myth he displayed his photographs at art fairs in utah and kansas city generating a few thousand dollars in sales but otherwise attracting little noticebut his work drew the attention of mattel inc which has manufactured the barbie doll since 1959 in the summer of 1999 mattel sued forsythe for copyright and trademark infringementafter a lengthy legal tussle which included a series of appeals a federal judge late last week instructed mattel to pay forsythe legal fees of more than 18 millioni couldnt have asked for a better result said forsythe 46 of kanab utah this should set a new standard for the ability to critique brands that are pervasive in our culture nyt news service