The staff of Playthings, announced that the Los Angeles appeals court stayed a pending court-ordered recall of MGA Entertainment’s BRATZ dolls.  This allows the doll’s to continue to be sold.

Chief Judge Alex Kozinski and Circuit Judges Stephen S. Trott and Kim McLane Wardlaw of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit filed the stay Wednesday following an appellate hearing on the case earlier in the day.

“The Court’s stay is good news for all Bratz fans and for anyone who cares about fair competition,” said Isaac Larian, CEO of MGA Entertainment. “It keeps Bratz on the shelves, allows MGA Entertainment to continue meeting consumer demand for new Bratz products, and prevents Mattel from taking control of the billion-dollar international Bratz brand built by MGA Entertainment while the Court makes its final decision. We are gratified by the Court’s decision and look forward to receiving the Court’s decision on our appeal.”

The judges would see MGA and Mattel to attempt to settle the dispute over Bratz’s future through “expedited participation in this court’s mediation program.”

Last year, a court ruled that Bratz’ creator, Carter Bryant, had been under contract to Mattel when he designed the initial concept and hence granted Bratz rights to Mattel. MGA was subsequently ordered by U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson to stop selling Bratz dolls at the end of 2009 and transfer all related material to Mattel.

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I find it interesting that even though the rights to the BRATZ doll line are now the owned by Mattel, MGA still gets to sell their version of the brand throughout another Christmas season.  As we all know, ‘It’s all about the money and using the court system to make more money.’

For those in the know on this mixed up license scenario, the key is to ensure the license and ownership terms are clear and identified in the contract between the Licensor and the Licensee.  See my Clause-by-Clause breakdown of a complete Licensing Agreement to ensure your brand does not end up with a similar fate.  Scroll down…

Cheers!

Sandford Tuey

info@Playdigm.com

I thank Playthings Magazine for the educational use of the copyrighted article above my personal remarks.

Bratz in Federal Receivership

MGA Entertainment’s Bratz business was forced into receivership because a  court ruling upheld last year’s $100 million jury verdict against MGA.   Who owns the rights to the doll franchise?

U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson directed the government to decide who and how Bratz dolls will be sold. Larson ordered MGA to stop its sales of Bratz dolls by the end of 2009.  MGA will most likely appeal the ruling.

This four year court ordeal could have been prevented by MGA by first ensuring that Bratz copyright designer Carter Bryant actually owned the rights prior to manufacturing any Bratz products.  The creator of the Bratz brand  and characters was an employee of Mattel at the time and if he signed a Work-For-Hire agreement with the world’s largest toy company, then clearly Mattel owns this intellectual property.

If MGA would have purchased the Bratz rights properly by first establishing that Bryant actually owned the copyright, then this would not be the $100 million dollar mess it has turned into.  The jury awarded Mattel $90 million for breach of contract and $10 million for copyright infringement.

The lesson here for creators of copyright and brands is to protect yourself and what you create first, then make sure any contracts you sign allow for you to continue to design whatever you like without the company you work for automatically owning it.

Read every contract prior to signing and seek legal counsel to ensure it says what you think it says.

My personal opinion is that companies should not own something you invented at 2am while at home, especially if it has nothing to do with what you are working on at work.  I mean, do they own your brain for $20 per hour?  I don’t believe that is fair, so keep an eye on the small print…

Sandford Tuey