RIVERSIDE, Calif. (Reuters) — Mattel
(MAT) won a court case against MGA Entertainment on Thursday over which toymaker owns the $1 billion-plus Bratz fashion doll franchise.
A nine-member federal jury in California found the creator of the multi-ethnic, big-headed dolls, Carter Bryant, created their characters and the name while he was under contract as a Barbie designer at Mattel.
The decision put Mattel in commanding position going into the damages phase of the trial, which begins July 23.
Other than the four drawings that Bryant testified that he made in a notebook while on an eight-month hiatus from Mattel in 1998, privately held MGA lost the rights to all drawings and "sculpts" of the Bratz.
While the verdict is a blow for MGA, it can say in the damages phase that Mattel has no rights to the dolls themselves because they are different from the drawings and were made by MGA designers.
The jury also found that MGA Chief Executive Isaac Larian had interfered with Mattel's contractual relationship with Bryant and that both he and his company were liable for "conversion," the term used for industrial theft.
Mattel had no immediate comment.
Larian also had made no comment, but shook his head after the verdict form had been read in its entirety.
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