Spring Break
Jury rules Bratz dolls conceived at Mattel
DANNY POLLOCK Associated Press Writer
Issue date: 7/20/08 Section: ARTS & LIFE
The timing of Bryant's creation was key in Mattel's suit.
Mattel attorneys argued that Bryant worked for the company between September 1995 and April 1998 and then returned for a second stint at Mattel between January 1999 and October 2000.
He signed an agreement that gave Mattel the right to anything he designed while employed there, the lawyers argued.
In a summary of the case, Mattel said MGA began showing Bratz prototypes a month after Bryant left Mattel and began selling the hugely popular dolls in toy stores five months later.
But Bryant testified during the six-week trial that the sketches he showed MGA in 2000 were transferred from originals he made in the summer of 1998 - between his two employment stints with Mattel - that were inspired as he watched kids walking from school, Steve Madden shoe ads in Seventeen magazine, and the cover of the Dixie Chicks album "Chicks With Attitude."
Sales of Barbie doll - once a near rite-of-passage of American girlhood - have slid since Bratz came on the scene. Domestic Barbie sales were down 15 percent in 2007 and 12 percent in the first quarter of 2008, while international sales increased 6 percent in 2008 as opposed to 12 percent the previous year.
Los Angeles-based MGA has countersued, saying Mattel changed the design of its own "My Scene" dolls to more closely resemble the Bratz line and used its leverage with retailers to stifle competition.
The news of the verdict came after the close of regular-session trading on Wall Street, but Mattel's shares shot up $1.22, or 6.7 percent, to $19.50 in after-hours dealings Thursday.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Mattel attorneys argued that Bryant worked for the company between September 1995 and April 1998 and then returned for a second stint at Mattel between January 1999 and October 2000.
He signed an agreement that gave Mattel the right to anything he designed while employed there, the lawyers argued.
In a summary of the case, Mattel said MGA began showing Bratz prototypes a month after Bryant left Mattel and began selling the hugely popular dolls in toy stores five months later.
But Bryant testified during the six-week trial that the sketches he showed MGA in 2000 were transferred from originals he made in the summer of 1998 - between his two employment stints with Mattel - that were inspired as he watched kids walking from school, Steve Madden shoe ads in Seventeen magazine, and the cover of the Dixie Chicks album "Chicks With Attitude."
Sales of Barbie doll - once a near rite-of-passage of American girlhood - have slid since Bratz came on the scene. Domestic Barbie sales were down 15 percent in 2007 and 12 percent in the first quarter of 2008, while international sales increased 6 percent in 2008 as opposed to 12 percent the previous year.
Los Angeles-based MGA has countersued, saying Mattel changed the design of its own "My Scene" dolls to more closely resemble the Bratz line and used its leverage with retailers to stifle competition.
The news of the verdict came after the close of regular-session trading on Wall Street, but Mattel's shares shot up $1.22, or 6.7 percent, to $19.50 in after-hours dealings Thursday.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
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