War of the Dolls: Barbie vs. Bratz

Brandora Staff (Jakobs) - November 23rd, 2006

Media reports the controversy "Barbie vs. Bratz" -- "Mattel vs MGA" -- goes on a second round.

Flavas

After MGA Entertainment accused toy giant Mattel of having copied their Bratz concept for their new Flavas line in 2003,

Bratz

Mattel now takes MGA to court. Bratz designer Carter Bryant is suspected of having drawn first drafts of the famous Barbie adversaries before changing from Mattel to MGA in October 2000. If suspicion is confirmed and Mattel really has the original drafts, they are in a good position to claim relevant property rights. Mattel filed a lawsuit at the beginning of this week.

MGA launched their dreaded Barbie rival in 2001 and brought hard time upon Mattel in doing so. Barbie sales have been declining ever since. Within the first three years Mattel lost 20% of their market share at the doll's segments. To stop their dive, Mattel threw their own stylish doll line on the market in 2003 -- the Flavas, which provoked the first lawsuit between America's most respected toy manufacturers.

Yet Bratz are still more than successful and today even feature a TV show airing all over the world. What is more, MGA Entertainment rushes to conquer the European market -- Germany first. On this mission, MGA bought 22% of the Zapf shares and agreed on a distribution partnership with Germany's most traditional doll manufacturer.

After all, MGA says Bryant drew the drafts in spring 1998 at the house of his parents. At that time he had not been employed by Mattel.