Legal News

After Ruling, Bratz Dolls Might Not Be Long for the Shelves

By Ashby Jones

Doll collectors and toy aficionados, take note: The Bratz doll might not be around for that much longer.

A federal judge in Riverside, Calif., Stephen G. Larson, ruled late Monday that he would lift the stay on a previous order that blocked MGA Entertainment, the maker of the Bratz doll, from producing the Bratz doll or using its name. The lift of the stay mandates that Bratz stop producing or licensing Bratz dolls. His stay does, however, allow retailers to continue selling Bratz dolls until the end of the year.

The ruling came in response to MGA’s bid to reduce the $100 million in intellectual property damages it was supposed to pay to rival Mattel Inc. Judge Larson shot down that motion, then went on to lift the stay. Click here for the WSJ story, from Nicholas Casey; here, here and here for previous LB posts on the Mattel/Bratz smackdown.

Mattel, the maker of Barbie, and MGA, have been locked in a dispute over the Bratz dolls that played out in the Riverside court for nearly a year. In a trial which began in May 2008, Mattel argued that MGA had essentially stolen the idea for its urban-themed Bratz dolls by hiring a Mattel employee, who was under contract with the toy giant, to design them. Later that summer, a jury sided with Mattel, awarding it $100 million in damages.

But MGA argued that the jury had awarded multiple damages for the same crime — what the company’s lawyers termed “duplicative.” At most, Mattel should be awarded $20 million, MGA argued according to court filings. Judge Larson did not agree. “The fact is the evidence not only supported a verdict of $100 million, this Court could have … easily sustained a verdict many times this amount.”

MGA Chief Executive Isaac Larian did not immediately return a call for comment. A Mattel spokesman declined to comment.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on April 28, 2009 (boomark / email).