Mattel may seek $600m from Bratz manufacturer

A Barbie is flanked by Bratz dolls. Mattel's case against MGA, which makes the Bratz line, has entered the damages phase. (Reuters/File 2004)

LOS ANGELES - MGA Entertainment Inc. said Mattel Inc. might seek about $600 million in damages for lost profits from sales of Bratz dolls and merchandise that, Mattel claims, infringe drawings made by one of its former designers.

Mattel, the world's largest toy maker, wants about $234 million in lost profits from the sales of Bratz dolls plus $366 million from the sale of Bratz-branded merchandise, MGA said in a court document filed Friday. MGA asked the court to exclude testimony of a Mattel damages expert.

A federal jury in Riverside, Calif., agreed July 17 with Mattel that designer Carter Bryant made most of the first sketches of the pouty Bratz characters while he was employed by Mattel in 1999 and 2000. The verdict helped clear the way for Mattel, the maker of the Barbie doll, to seek damages for copyright infringement from MGA at the trial's next phase, which began yesterday.

"Mattel's damages theories reflect a massive overreach," MGA said in the filing.

In addition to the $600 million for lost profits, Mattel also seeks about $250 million from Isaac Larian, MGA's chief executive and majority owner, for his share of MGA's profits as well as about $773 million for the value of Larian's interest in the Bratz product line, MGA said. The damages Mattel seeks are "overlapping and duplicative," MGA said.

"Mattel will present the evidence supporting its damages case in court and will not be forecasting what the evidence will prove in advance," Mattel lawyer John Quinn said Tuesday.