SANTA ANA, Calif. — A federal jury Thursday rejected Mattel’s claims that it owns the copyright to the blockbuster, billion-dollar Bratz doll line and instead awarded upstart rival MGA Entertainment more than $88 million in damages for misappropriation of trade secrets.
The verdict came as a staggering blow to the toy giant, which has long claimed the smaller company stole the idea for the ethnically diverse, pouty-lipped toys that gave platinum-haired Barbie a run for her money after decades of fashion-doll dominance.
The jury, which deliberated for nearly two weeks after a three-month trial, also found that Mattel acted willfully and maliciously in misappropriating MGA’s trade secrets. That raises the possibility the judge could also add on punitive damages that could bring the total award to three times the jury’s initial findings, attorneys for both sides said.
Mattel company first sued more than six years ago, claiming Bratz designer Carter Bryant was working for Mattel when he did the initial drawings and early work on the provocative, hip-hop-inspired dolls with large eyes, heads, lips and feet, and tiny noses. A jury awarded Mattel $100 million in 2008 and found that Bryant had developed the Bratz concept while with Mattel, but that verdict was overturned last year. The Associated Press
