A conflict of several years between toy giant Mattel (Barbie) and MGA Entertainment (Bratz) now seems definitively over. The court found that Mattel had stolen trade secrets and has ordered them to pay millions in damages to MGA, according to the online edition of The Guardian.
The bitter battle, which cost both companies millions of dollars, has been ongoing since the Bratz dolls became a hit in the mid-2000s. Mattel won the first lawsuit in 2008, in which they argued that Carter Bryant had developed the Bratz concept while in their employ and that he later secretly took the idea with him to the competitor. Damages of 100 million dollars were awarded and MGA Entertainment was ordered to turn over the Bratz franchise to Mattel. MGA countered by suing Mattel for corporate espionage.
The appellate court in San Francisco has now found in MGA’s favour. The damages Mattel must pay amount to 88.4 million US dollars (about SEK 563 million) in a hard blow to the toy giant, which claims the Bratz doll has already lost them more than 300 million US dollars.
