Mattel Inc’s security chief must appear in court this month to testify about why the toy company gave gifts to Canadian police investigating Mattel’s complaints of trade secrets theft against rival MGA Entertainment, a judge ordered on Thursday.

MGA attorneys learned about the gift of toy cars in an email obtained from Mattel in the protracted legal battle between the two toy companies over competing copyright infringement and unfair competition claims. The email between Canadian authorities and Mattel’s head of security, Richard De Anda, showed “an obviously improper attempt to curry favor in their investigation,” MGA argued in court documents.

Canadian authorities declined to bring a case against MGA or a former employee Mattel had accused of stealing business information when she quit and moved to MGA’s Canada operations, an MGA official said.

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