Intellectual Property Case: Maggie Caudle
In this famous case, Mattel, the creator of the Barbie doll, sued MGA Entertainment, claiming that the Bratz doll infringed on the Barbie doll’s copyright restrictions. An employee still working for Mattel helped to design the Bratz doll for MGA, which violated his employment agreement. The District Court decided in favor of Mattel and ruled that MGA was not allowed to produce certain dolls using these ideas, as the ideas technically belonged to Mattel. Despite their win, Mattel did not receive any of the damages they originally sought in the case. Later on, MGA took the case to the Ninth Circuit court of appeals and the decision was overturned in their favor, the court ruling that Bratz’ success could not be based entirely on ideas taken from Mattel.