EOC Week 8: Bratz Brawl

Mattel and MGA Entertainment went to court, because Mattel claimed that Bratz was part of their intellectual property. Because the guy who designed Bratz was working for Mattel at the time and therefore Mattel owns the sketches, at least that’s what Mattel has said. Mattel and MGA had been in court for years, but in April of 2011, Mattel has lost the case. Carter Bryant a guy who designed Bratz has said that he came up with the design in 1998, when he was living with his parents. Mattel did not own the original sketches for Bratz. In the article by The Wrap says, “Mattel had claimed lost wages between $314 million and $544 million in the current trial.” And MG was awarded $3.4 million for damages for trade-secret theft. It looks like Mattel were able to stop Hasbro from copying their idea with Hasbro’s G.I. Joe line, but looks like Mattel couldn’t stop MGA, which I think is very interesting. And it was all because of Mattel not owning Bratz designs. It’s cool to see that Mattel won’t be the only ones making dolls for girls. It seems like Bratz is more popular with girls more than the Barbie dolls. That’s probably the true reason why Mattel wanted to take MGA to court. Bratz had their own movie, TV series and songs and Barbie only had few movies. So I think that’s one of the reason why Bratz are more successful right now. Mattel should research more, but now since they’ve lost money it would be impossible right now.