David Colke July 28, 2008
ONE OF THE jurors in the Barbie v Bratz trial, in which the toy giant Mattel has scored a big victory over its rival MGA Entertainment, was removed on Friday for making an ethnic slur about Isaac Larian, the chief executive of MGA, who was born in Iran.
The remark came during jury deliberations in the first phase of the trial, which ended on July 18. The jury found that MGA, and specifically Mr Larian, had helped the creator of Bratz, Carter Bryant, who at the time was working as a Mattel designer on the toy giant's Barbie line, breach his contract.
The trial is in the damages phase, during which Mattel is expected to ask for more than $US1billion ($1.04 billion). [More]
Mon Apr 28, 2008 6:32pm EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge in California has cleared the way for Barbie doll maker Mattel Inc (MAT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) to go forward with its lawsuit against ex-employee and Bratz dolls inventor Carter Bryant.
Mattel, the world's largest toy maker, had claimed it owns MGA Entertainment's Bratz dolls because Bryant conceived the big-headed, pouty-lipped toys while he worked as a Barbie designer.
In a ruling issued on Friday, U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson said "the undisputed facts establish that Bryant breached his fiduciary duty to communicate his inventions to Mattel when, rather than doing so, he secretly entered into a contract with Mattel's competitor, while still employed by Mattel."
Sales of Barbie dolls have waned in recent years amid fierce competition from Bratz dolls, which burst onto the market in 2001. Mattel said this month the Bratz litigation was a factor in its $46.6 million first-quarter loss.
"The facts are on our side and we are confident we will prevail at trial," MGA Chief Executive Isaac Larian said in a statement. " MGA ... built Bratz -- and no one else."
(Reporting by Justin Grant, with additional reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; editing by Carol Bishopric and Braden Reddall)
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