Barbies v. Bratz?

You may have thought any war between iconic-but-innocent Barbies and upstart-and-trashy Bratz would take place in toy stores, or maybe in the minds of exasperated parents trying to decide which doll was less objectionable. But for the past four years, a battle has raged in federal court, where Mattel, the makers of Barbie, sued MGA Entertainment, the makers of Bratz. The case, closely watched by intellectual property lawyers, has a copyright infringement element, but is also about idea theft: Mattel alleged that Carter Bryant, who designed Bratz, invented them while still working for Mattel. Last year a jury awarded Mattel $100 million in the dispute. (If that sounds like big money, consider this: Mattel asked for almost $2 billion. This week, a judge upheld the verdict and confirmed that Bratz now belong to Mattel. He also appointed a receiver to run the business of making Bratz. The judge will decide on May 18 whether that receivership should be permanent; meanwhile, MGA Entertainment says it will appeal the ruling. If this seems like much ado over plastic playthings, remember that competition matters. Consider this, according to the Associated Press, a few years after Bratz were launched, Barbie sales fell 15 percent in 2007 and 12 percent in the first quarter of 2008 (when the economy, and therefore the toy market, was more robust), likely due to competition from the more "exotic" Bratz lineup.