On Thursday, Mattel Inc., the house that Barbie built, heads back to court to once again try to prove that Isaac Larian’s MGA Entertainment Inc. stole the toy company’s intellectual property when it created the popular Bratz doll line a decade ago.
The new trial will be more than just a rehash of the nasty, previous one that determined who was the rightful owner of the sultry-looking line of dolls. At least a portion of the case being litigated in federal court in Santa Ana, will be devoted to dueling allegations that each company engaged in a host of dirty deeds in an effort to steal trade secrets.
The Bratz dolls were introduced in the fall of 2001 and at the height of their popularity grossed $1 billion in revenue for closely held MGA. The glitzy Bratz girls were also the first serious challengers to Barbie., whose sales began to soften as the Bratz dolls’ popularity increased.
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