Toymaker Mattel, probably best known as the maker of Barbie, has been embroiled in a copyright infringement lawsuit related to the popular Bratz dolls, manufactured by MGA Entertainment.
Mattel, headquartered out here in Southern California, sued MGA originally for $1.8 billion (you read that correctly--billion), claiming current MGA employee Carter Bryant (Mattel's former employee) came up with the idea for Bratz on Mattel's time. Specifically, Mattel accused Mr. Bryant of sneaking around behind Mattel's back and working as a consultant for MGA.
The Bratz dolls, which are geared more to today's *ahem* modern values, successfully carved a nice chunk out of Barbie's marketshare.
Plenty of ugliness and accusations ensued, and ultimately a jury awarded Mattel $100 million--a fraction of the original damages sought.
Worse for Mattel, their share price took a sizeable hit this morning. To make matters even worse, some reports estimate Mattel's legal costs in the first half of this year at $44 million--mostly stemming from the Bratz suit.
Ouch.
But hey, a win's a win. And Mattel, known for aggressive litigation to protect their Barbie brand, probably just considers it a cost of doing business.
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