The headline of the Los Angeles Times business section read “Mattel Wins Skimpy Damages in Bratz Doll Case”. How much is skimpy? Well I guess in plastic doll circles, 100 million dollars is considered skimpy. That’s some math I can’t even begin to comprehend. But Mattel had asked for 1.8 billon so they ended up with only about 5.5% of what they really wanted and felt that they deserved.
Why was Mattel looking for some payback in the first place? Well in a nutshell, if you haven’t been following the "war of the dolls", Bratz’s Daddy, and former Barbie designer Carter Bryant, developed the line while under an exclusive contract with toy giant Mattel. But Cater played the field and ended up having the toy company MGA develop the dolls even though Mattel owned his ass (and all his ideas). MGA’s chief officer, who was found to have “secretly aided the designer in breaking his exclusivity” also got a bitch slap from the jury.
But the story doesn’t end there. Mattel will “seek an injunction as soon as next month to stop MGA from making more Bratz dolls.” Oh those dolls, why can’t they all just play nice.
For more information about the trial check out the more informed and eloquent musing on the situation by our own Jen Chaney here:
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