Mattel Seeks Nearly $2B in Bratz Dispute
A lawyer for Mattel urged jurors yesterday to order a competing toy maker to pay $1.8 billion in damages for marketing and selling the Bratz doll, conceived by a designer while he was at Mattel.
A jury determined last month that the doll had been conceived by Mattel designer Carter Bryant before he joined MGA Entertainment Inc. Bryant has already settled with Mattel.
Arguing in the damages phase of the trial, Mattel lawyer John Quinn said $1 billion represented MGA’s profits and interest for taking the Bratz concept, while $800 million was profits and interest that MGA CEO Isaac Larian had earned from the doll, the Daily Journal reports (sub. req.). “When you profit from taking someone else’s confidential information, you have to give it back,” said Quinn, a name partner with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges. He is also seeking punitive damages.
MGA lawyer Thomas Nolan said damages are as small as $30 million because MGA added value to the doll with additions, branding and packaging, the Associated Press reports. The line has expanded from four dolls to nearly 40. Said lawyer Raoul Kennedy, “Something else is going on besides Mattel’s property in contributing to sales. Themes make a difference.”
