Week 8 EOC: Bratz Brawl

The company MGA has been involved in a legal battle with Mattel, the company who created and owns the rights to Barbie. It all revolved around someone named Carter Bryant, who was employed at Mattel during the time he created the Bratz dolls. It seems so cut and dry. If this guy was working at Mattel during the time he created the dolls, then he must have stole information, ideas, and other things while creating them, right? Money should go to Mattel. Not so fast. Bryant claims that it was all his idea, and that he owns the rights to the “gig eyes, pouty lips” look of the dolls. As quoted from an article by Tasmin McMahon from Maclean's (http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/03/14/at-long-last-a-doll-detente/) “With their Angelina Jolie lips, bedroom eyes and killer wardrobes, Bratz dolls have shaken up the toy industry, capturing about 35 per cent of the fashion doll market since their debut in 2001. Barbie’s share, meanwhile, has fallen from a virtual monopoly to just over half.” Losing market share is a quick way for a company to go under. Also, Mattel is very strict about licensing their name, and stolen intellectual property. Plus, they were probably just pissed off about the fact that one of their employees “turned” on them, and instead of going through Mattel to promote his new product, he branched out on his own in an attempt to make more money.

After the initial trial, Mattel was awarded money. But MGA had the case overturned and counter-sued. They won, and were awarded $309 million, including $137 million in legal fees. Adding in Mattel's legal fees it paid to fight MGA, the total was nearly $700 million. Naturally, Mattel was not going to take that kind of loss lying down. A Los Angeles Daily News article by Muhammed El-Hasan (http://www.dailynews.com/business/20130124/bratz-mattel-both-claim-legal-wins) states, “Mattel won a partial victory Thursday when a federal appeals court tossed out $172 million in damages the toy giant had been ordered to pay to the maker of Bratz dolls.

The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals vacated an April 2011 jury verdict that favored MGA Entertainment in a counter-suit claiming that El Segundo-based Mattel Inc. stole trade secrets."

Thursday's appeals court decision was based on a technicality, that Van Nuys-based MGA's trade-secrets counter-suit should not have been tried by the jury because it was not sufficiently relevant to Mattel's suit.” So both parties have pretty much lost out, because neither one has really even won anything, right? Well, according to an article on Tech Dirt by Tim Cushing (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121019/17344420768/its-finally-over-8-years-mattel-vs-bratz-no-ones-getting-paid-lawyers.shtml ) “But MGA gets the last laugh. The Ninth Circuit left untouched $137 million in attorney fees and costs awarded to MGA for defending against Mattel's copyright claims.”