Aug 27 2008
Barbie Bruises Bratz, but not for Billions
Barbie creators Mattel have had a court verdict in their favor over MGA Entertainment. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite the outcome they would have wanted. The issue was on copyright issues because the designer of the Bratz dolls, Carter Bryant, created the Bratz idea whilst he was still working for Mattel. Because of this, Mattel wanted MGA who own the Bratz line to pay out at least a billion dollars based on the profits made from the Bratz dolls.
Barbie did win the day with some damages being awarded, but as these were only to the tune of $100million because the Bratz empire as it is today wasn’t found to be covered by the copyright claims – the main issue seems to be with the original four Bratz dolls, and not the branding/merchandising empire that came after. Perhaps to Mattel it is only a small percentage of what was sought, but it’s still enough to keep Barbie in designer fashions, lingerie and shoes for the next few years!
The designer himself settled with Mattel out of court for an undisclosed amount, but as the Bratz line profits approximately $500million annually, I’m sure that he’s not too disappointed in the way things turned out!
Whilst I’m a Barbie collector who sees Bratz dolls on the toy store shelves and count my blessings that I have boys instead of girls, I’m happy with this verdict. The Bratz team shouldn’t have to pay billions of dollars to such an established company that didn’t identify the market gap first!
3 Responses to “Barbie Bruises Bratz, but not for Billions”
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lol. I don’t like the Bratz dolls myself, my girls do of course. But this just sounds like the “older girls” are picking on the “younger girls.” Doesn’t it?
Glad I’m not alone. I read back what I’d wrote and thought, hmmm, maybe you’re just getting fashioned Katie-Anne!
that is an awful lot of dolls