Mattel loses Bratz case

bratz.top.jpg By Charles Riley, staff reporter


NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- A federal jury ruled against Mattel Thursday, awarding damages to MGA Entertainment in the latest twist in a dispute over the ownership of Bratz, the most popular dolls since Barbie.

The jurors in a Santa Ana, Calif. court found Mattel does not own rights to the popular Bratz franchise, and that rival MGA did not steal the idea.

The two toymakers have been engaged in a running battle over who owns the lucrative doll line for the better part of a decade. Mattel argued that since the idea was developed by designer Carter Bryant while he was a Mattel employee, it owns the rights.

MGA argued that the language of Bryant's contract only covered work created within the scope of the job, and not work done during his own time or outside of his duties at the company.

Both sides have scored big wins in the past, but on Thursday MGA prevailed.

The jury found that Mattel's (MAT, Fortune 500) copyright claim on the franchise was invalid, and that MGA had not stolen trade secrets from Mattel.

Instead, the jurors awarded MGA $88.5 million in damages, finding that Mattel was the party that had stolen trade secrets. MGA had accused Mattel of stealing 114 of them. The jury awarded damages in 26 instances.

"We are grateful for a hard-working and smart jury," MGA CEO Isaac Larian said in an email to CNNMoney.

"This is a victory for all the hard-working entrepreneurs and small companies who get bullied unfairly by large multinational corporations with deep pockets," he said.

Mattel said it would challenge the decision.

"MGA's claims against us were simply not supported by the evidence at trial. We will ask the court to set aside the verdict. Once the judge rules on our motions, we will evaluate our next steps," Mattel general counsel Robert Normile said in a statement.

The jury did find MGA at fault on one count, saying the company did in fact intentionally interfere with Bryan's contract with Mattel.

Last year, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco dismissed a December 2008 ruling that gave Mattel ownership rights. To top of page

Just the hot list include
Frontline troops push for solar energy
The U.S. Marines are testing renewable energy technologies like solar to reduce costs and casualties associated with fossil fuels. Play
25 Best Places to find rich singles
Looking for Mr. or Ms. Moneybags? Hunt down the perfect mate in these wealthy cities, which are brimming with unattached professionals. More
Fun festivals: Twins to mustard to pirates!
You'll see double in Twinsburg, Ohio, and Ketchup lovers should beware in Middleton, WI. Here's some of the best and strangest town festivals. Play
Index Last Change % Change
Dow 32,627.97 -234.33 -0.71%
Nasdaq 13,215.24 99.07 0.76%
S&P 500 3,913.10 -2.36 -0.06%
Treasuries 1.73 0.00 0.12%
Data as of 6:29am ET
Company Price Change % Change
Ford Motor Co 8.29 0.05 0.61%
Advanced Micro Devic... 54.59 0.70 1.30%
Cisco Systems Inc 47.49 -2.44 -4.89%
General Electric Co 13.00 -0.16 -1.22%
Kraft Heinz Co 27.84 -2.20 -7.32%
Data as of 2:44pm ET
Sponsors

Sections

Bankrupt toy retailer tells bankruptcy court it is looking at possibly reviving the Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us brands. More

Land O'Lakes CEO Beth Ford charts her career path, from her first job to becoming the first openly gay CEO at a Fortune 500 company in an interview with CNN's Boss Files. More

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.