Within the Barbie vs. Bratz court cases there are tons of things to figure out. Were the designs and ideas of the Bratz doll the property of Mattel or Carter Bryant? Why did Bryant go to Mattel's competition? The list goes on and on. The employee "Carter Bryant says he made the first drawings of his multi-ethnic, hip-hop inspired doll when he wasn't working for Mattel. Mattel says he came up with the idea while he was working for it." Where as Mattel is saying that "While still working for Mattel, Bryant went to MGA with sketches and a fairly simple model of a Bratz-style doll, constructed of a head from Mattel’s inventory, a Barbie body and Ken’s boots. Less than three months later, Bryant had left Mattel and was working for MGA. Mattel sued MGA, asserting that since Bryant designed the Bratz dolls while still working for Mattel, Mattel owned the concept and right to exploit the idea." It's hard to determine who is in the right. I guess it all depends about what was written in Bryant contract. I think that the idea should be the property of Bryant but if he used Mattel's materials or software then just those should be Mattel's property, and only those, no further materials. I feel that the Bratz doll has a extremely different personality than the Barbie doll, I think that Bratz would probably have more competition with the Monster High dolls because they look very similar to their designs. Barbie didn't really have any competition until the Bratz doll came out so what I'm wondering is that if Barbie were to get the rights to the Bratz doll will they keep it or just throw it away because it doesn't have the personality that Mattel is trying to represent? Good news is that "one of the more epic IP battles has come to an end. Mattel (Barbie) and MGA Entertainment (Bratz), have spent most of a decade in various courtrooms hashing out the ultra-serious question about which of these companies is entitled to the Bratz millions." They have spent millions going back and forth trying to sue each other for numerous things, such as Bryant stole right from them and then Mattel was found to have had employees use fake business cards to get secrets from MGA. To much foolishness going on I think that they just need to focus on their customers and making them happy. Growing up I personally preferred Bratz dolls because of all of the stylish outfits they had.
Citations:
Barbie v. Bratz: The never-ending court battle. Retrieved on November 21, 2013 from http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/barbie-v-bratz-never-ending-court-battle
It's Finally Over: 8 Years of Mattel vs. Bratz and No One's Getting Paid but the Lawyers. Retrieved on November 21, 2013 from http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121019/17344420768/its-finally-over-8-years-mattel-vs-bratz-no-ones-getting-paid-lawyers.shtml
Barbies vs. Bratz: Billion Dollar Battle. Retreieved on November 21, 2013 from http://scvnews.com/2013/09/20/barbie-vs-bratz-billion-dollar-battle-commentary-by-carl-kanowsky-esq/
No comments:
Post a Comment