The lawsuit, which was filed Monday, explains that Bert the Farting Hippo first appeared on NCIS in 2003, a year after Folkmanis started making the plush toys.

Folkmanis Inc., a stuffed animal purveyor, is suing CBS Broadcasting for selling a puppet of a farting hippo featured on NCIS. Folkmanis alleges that CBS violated copyright laws by selling "Bert ...

So Hippo 1 was renamed, and Bert the Farting Hippo (with an added sound effect) it became. “This hippo stuffed animal actually makes noises,” proclaims a more recent ad for one of the CBS ...

Bert the Farting Hippo has appeared on the crime show and is sold at the online CBS Store. By Eriq Gardner Former Legal Editor-at-Large The first version of the stuffed Hippo came in 2002. The ...