Wow, an epic case regarding shop rights. We students were warned about this issue way back in ASU's College of Design. A toy designer at Mattel apparently created the concept for the successful Bratz dolls line while still working for Mattel. Apparently that violated a contract of some sort. By the article at Bloomberg, I couldn't gather whether this was from use of on-the-job time or a moonlighting project banned by non-compete agreements. I wouldn't be surprised if Carter Bryant (the Bratz designer) pitched the Bratz concept to executives while at Mattel--only to be shot down. Bad call, eh?
The success of the Bratz line really chewed into Mattel's Barbie profits, so we can clearly see why Mattel was upset. But I wonder what everyone has learned from all this. The stodgy stance by Mattel with their Barbie line is clearly lacking in appeal to this younger generation--an appeal that the Bratz line met directly and quickly. The bottom line is that Mattel never managed to compete with this new appeal. What will they do now? Are the Bratz to be shelved? Will we see some of their features migrate to the Barbie dolls--a sort of pathetic compromize between winner (Bratz) and loser (Barbie)? Sure, Mattel won the lawsuit, but that's a mere battle in the war. If they choose to fail by ignoring the success of the Bratz line, someone else will create a knock-off Bratz line and Mattel will find themselves in the same position, once again. What's to hinder Carter Bryant from using exactly that strategy? Fine, don't use the Bratz name or any names of the dolls, but this market has already been established, and could soon experience a vacuum, depending on what Mattel chooses to do now.
It will be interesting to see how Mattel handles this. Yes, I'm a bit jaded. As I see all the time, the world is not necessarily one in which the large eat the small, but in which the fast eat the slow. Why is corporate America bent on failing at every opportunity? They are not attacked by the super-large, but by the super-agile. And hence, I eat my lunch.
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2 comments:
It is not correct that Bryant presented Bratz to Mattel. Quite the opposite. Bryant testified at trial that he never showed it to Mattel. The jury found that Bryant conceived and designed Bratz while he was a Mattel employee and while he was under his Mattel contract. There was evidence that he used Mattel resources, and even other Mattel employees (who he lied to in order to get them to work on the project), in creating Bratz. Bryant also admitted at trial that he created the prototype doll that he pitched to MGA -- weeks before he quit Mattel -- in the Mattel design center. Not a close case. Just dishonesty and greed by Bryant and MGA.
Thanks, Year Zero--that the Bratz line was presented to Mattel was pure speculation. Have you any links to the things you mentioned to fill me in on the background of this case? I'd love to see them.
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