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Court orders MGA to stop Bratz sales

By Playthings Staff -- Gifts and Dec, 12/4/2008 9:39:00 AM

Los Angeles — MGA Entertainment must stop selling the majority of its Bratz dolls and related branded products, the U.S. District judge overseeing the copyright case against the company brought by Mattel, said in a ruling late yesterday.

“Mattel has established its exclusive rights to the Bratz drawings, and the court has found that hundreds of the MGA parties’ products, including all the currently available core female fashion dolls Mattel was able to locate in the marketplace, infringe those rights,” U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson said.

Larson also ordered MGA to stop using the name “Bratz.”

The order’s directives won’t be enforceable until February 2009 while the court considers additional legal briefings on post-trial issues.

Mattel CEO Robert Eckert said of the decision: "We’re extremely pleased that the court granted Mattel’s motion for an injunction and ordered MGA to stop selling Bratz products that infringe on Mattel's rights. Mattel is also pleased that the court ordered MGA to stop using the Bratz trademark since it belongs to Mattel. Today's ruling underscores what Mattel has said all along—that MGA should not be allowed to profit from its wrongdoing."

Earlier this year, a jury ruled that designer Carter Bryant created the original Bratz dolls while still under contract to Mattel and that MGA aided and abetted Bryant’s breach of his contract with Mattel. Mattel was awarded $10 million for copyright infringement and $90 million for breach of contract.

Isaac Larian, MGA’s CEO, called yesterday's ruling “inconsistent” with the jury’s original verdict. He also noted previous statements by Larson that Mattel’s request to halt Bratz sales was “quite a leap,” and that “the measurable value to Bratz, the brand Bratz, to the dolls Bratz, to everything that came of it, is so much a function of what Isaac Larian and his team at MGA put into it.”

“We believe the jury verdict was clear in denying 99 percent of Mattel’s copyright infringement claim and that issuing such a broad injunction is inconsistent with the limited jury verdict and the law,” said Larian, adding: “MGA intends to immediately appeal the injunction Mattel was granted.”

MGA will request that the stay be extended pending resolution of its appeal. “We will seek to stay enforcement of this order until our appeal is resolved so we can maintain the over 1,500 people that MGA employs, and continue to give our consumers a product they desire,” Larian said.

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Court orders MGA to stop Bratz sales

Dec 4, 2008

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