Winning $310 million of Mattel's money was not enough for Bratz maker MGA Entertainment, which extended the long legal battle in Santa Ana's federal courthouse by seeking $1 billion in total damages from the Barbie manufacturer.
But Judge David O. Carter dismissed MGA's antitrust complaint last week.
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The case originally had Mattel of El Segundo claiming that MGA stole the idea for the Bratz dolls, and MGA of Van Nuys countering that Mattel stole MGA's trade secrets. A jury last April sided with MGA, and Carter in August ordered Mattel to pay the much smaller toy company $225
million in punitive damages, attorney fees and costs, bringing MGA's total award up to $310 million.
However, after the initial court documents were filed in that suit, MGA in February filed the antitrust complaint that Carter claims he already ruled on.
“MGA's first amended complaint and opposition all
but asks this court to reconsider its prior order dismissing the
original complaint,” he said in last week's ruling.
Mattel's attorneys say they are pleased with Carter's decision, but MGA's vow they will appeal, meaning that Bratz doll on your daughter's shelf will be 90 before this sucker is settled.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.