Week 8 EOC: Barbie Vs Bratz.

Bratz Vs mattel

The case that has been going on for 8 years is finally over with a settlement were both side didn’t win!   The doll making companies were fighting over an intellectual property case, the case were Bryant an design consultant that worked for Mattel, allegedly stole a design, called a breach of contract.  Mattel argued that Bryant violated his employment agreement by going to MGA with his Bratz idea instead of disclosing and assigning it to Mattel. Mattel claimed it was the rightful owner of Bryant's preliminary sketches and sculpt, which it argued MGA's subsequent Bratz d dolls infringed “That both Mattel and MGA claimed they stole each other’s trade secrets isn’t enough to render MGA’s counterclaim compulsory,” the panel said. “What matters is not the legal theory but the facts.”

The jury found that MGA did not infringe Mattel’s copyrights by producing the BRATZ dolls.  The jury also found in favor of MGA with respect to its counterclaim against Mattel for misappropriation of trade secrets. The court concluded that there was not a sufficient nexus or logical relationship between the relevant facts that each party relied on to support its respective legal theory to support the characterization of the counterclaims as a compulsory counterclaim.  Therefore, under the applicable statute of limitations, MGA’s 2010 counterclaim for misappropriation of trade secrets was vacat “By contrast, MGA’s trade-secret claim rested on allegations that Mattel’s employees stole MGA trade secrets by engaging in chicanery (such as masquerading as buyers) at toy fairs,” the court said. “That both Mattel and MGA claimed they stole each other’s trade secrets isn’t enough to render MGA’s counterclaim compulsory