Bratz strikes back in battle against Barbie

date: 27.07.10

Mattel won the trial court. Mattel received a jury verdict of $10 million and obtained a constructive trust over all of the trademarks relating to MGA's Bratz branded products -- the Bratz dolls, doll accessories and even Bratz the movie. The trial court also prohibited MGA from marketing or producing its highly successful Bratz dolls.

 

Judge Kozinski seems to suspect that Mattel initiated this lawsuit -- against a former employee and one of the only significant challengers to its Barbie dolls -- to stifle competition. The Ninth Circuit was unwilling to allow the use of copyright principles -- expanded to encompass what it viewed as "unprotectable elements." "When works of art share an idea, they'll often be 'similar' in the layman's sense of the term . . . but that's not the sort of similarity we look for in copyright law. 'Substantial similarity' for copyright infringement requires a similarity of expression, not ideas."

 

Judge Kozinski left it for Judge Larson's successor to decide what actually becomes of the district court decision. But Judge Kozinski made clear that "it's likely that a significant portion -- if not all -- of the jury verdict and damage award should be vacated, and the entire case will probably need to be retried [and] that any further proceedings must be consistent with our decision."

 

Bron: 2010 by Melvin N.A. Avanzado ENTERTAINMENT LITIGATION: THE BRATZ BEAT BACK BARBIE ON APPEAL

 

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