Legal News

Mattel tears off MGA's head in doll revolution win

By Richard Binder

Judge Stephen Larson ultimately put the proverbial coal in MGA's stocking yesterday when he ordered the company to stop manufacturing the Bratz dolls, although he allowed MGA to wait until the end of the holiday season to remove the dolls from store shelves. 

The decision was a stunning defeat for MGA, which exploded onto the "tween" scene in 2001 with Bratz and made hundreds of millions in profits, giving Mattel's more classic doll-diva Barbie a run for her money. The ruling, issued in federal court in Riverside, Calif., followed a jury's finding that Bratz designer Carter Bryant developed the concept for the dolls while working for Mattel.

MGA Chief Executive Isaac Larian said in an email that he hadn?t yet read the judge?s order in detail but said, ?we will for sure appeal.? Skadden Arps?s Thomas Nolan, an attorney for MGA added that the judge had stayed the order from going into effect until MGA could argue for the judge to set aside the jury?s verdict altogether, an argument that will be made next February. Should this approach not succeed, Nolan said MGA would take the verdict to the 9th Circuit.

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Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on December 04, 2008 (boomark / email).