Judge orders company to stop making popular Bratz dolls

chron.com ^ | Dec. 4, 2008 | GILLIAN FLACCUS

[IronKros]

LOS ANGELES — The rowdy Bratz dolls have been evicted. Barbie has regained control of the dollhouse. Toy giant Mattel Inc., after a four-year legal dispute with MGA Entertainment Inc., touted its win in the case Wednesday after a federal judge banned MGA from making and selling its pouty-lipped and hugely popular Bratz dolls.

[IronKros]

Hopefully now I will no longer have to tell my 4 year old that those dolls are for big girls.

[Jemian]

I’m missing something here. The government has ordered a private enterprise to stop making and selling something? What right does the government have to regulate that?

There must be more to this case than what has been reported here.

[SJSAMPLE]

My wife refuses to let my daughters anywhere near the Bratz dolls.
I guess Barbies are just slutty enough ;)

[SJSAMPLE]

The designer of the Bratz dolls used to work for Mattel.
Mattel sued in court and it was ruled that the Bratz design was created on Mattel time.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Pouty lips ?

[Travis T. OJustice]

Yep, Barbie is a tramp from the suburbs, (with a good attorney) Bratz are innercity crack-ho dolls.

[Jemian]

Thank you. That wasn’t clear in the article. Now it makes sense.

[PGR88]

My wife and I call them SLUTZ.

Not sure why any parent would buy those for their girls.

[Travis T. OJustice]

HO.

[autumnraine]

While I disagree COMPLETELY with a judge ordering a private company to stop making a product (Barbie doesn’t own the fashion doll. Bratz looks nothing like Barbie) I am glad I don’t have to call them the “Slutz” dolls anymore.

[autumnraine]

HA! That’s what we call them too. With the Z on the end and everything.

Barbie did try to compete with their “Ho Dolls” as I called them. But they were the trashy line of Barbies

[autumnraine]

Oh yeah, and time to buy all things Bratz as they soon will be a collectors item?

[Melpomene]

You’re nicer than I am. I tell my daughter she can never play with those dolls, and she shouldn’t be friends with anyone who does.

[waxer1]

Yeah! I am going to wonder down to my local Kmart and pick up a few.

My daughter will not allow me to buy them for my granddaughter she is 4 going on 5.

I think the baby bratz are the worse of all.

[weegee]

And Barbie was ripped off in proportions and look from a German doll.

I guess this is one of those “no compete” clauses. Even if the employee had been working on designs at home while employed by Mattel the case could turn out like this.

[NavyCanDo]

The Ebay sales are going to skyrocket. And I don't think many of those are going to end up in the hands of little girls, but instead in the hands of people who want to turn a profit.

[SolidWood]

She has to be a mouthbreather... I can’t see a nose.

[weegee]

“It’s hard to be a pimp...”

[bamahead]

I’m missing something here. The government has ordered a private enterprise to stop making and selling something? What right does the government have to regulate that?

From the article:

The ruling, issued in federal court in Riverside, followed a jury's finding that Bratz designer Carter Bryant developed the concept for the dolls while working for Mattel.

The same jury later awarded Mattel $10 million for copyright infringement and $90 million for breach of contract after a lengthy trial stemming from Mattel's 2004 lawsuit ended in August.

I would assume that there must've been a clause in the designer's contract that stated anything created while employed by Mattel is the intellectual property of Mattel.

This is a pretty common clause in the design business, whether it's fashion, software, or even dolls...

The article is poorly written and doesn't volunteer that information. And the Judge's decision is waaaaay overbearing for these types of cases. Usually, some sizable restitution money changes hands in these types of suits, and they go on making their product. But to force a manufacturer to stop making something is uncommon. Again, probably something missing from the poorly written article.

[FES0844]

Whatever happened to Raggedy Ann???