According to Carter Bryant, it all started in 1999 when he sent a drawing of a concept doll to an agency for artists to see if anyone might have an interest in his idea. Fast forward nearly 10 years to the present. Bryant now earns more than $30 million in royalties from his wildly popular line of “Bratz” dolls. Yet, there may not be a fairy tale ending for a rags-to-riches artist. According to the folks at Mattel, creators of the ever-popular “Barbie” and “Ken” dolls, Bratz is a not-to-distant relative who should rightfully be part of the Mattel dynasty. As a result, Mattel has filed a breach of contract and copyright infringement action against Bryant and Bratz manufacturer, MGA Entertainment, Inc.
Bryant went to work for Mattel in 1995 as a designer of fashions, hairstyles and makeup for its Barbie line. While at Mattel, he signed a “confidential information and inventions” agreement which gave Mattel the exclusive rights to all “developments, designs, know-how, data” and other items created by Bryant while he worked for the company. However, Bryant took a leave of absence in 1998 and returned to Mattel approximately 8 months later. It is during that critical time frame that Bryant contends he created “Bratz”.
Several early sketches of Bryant’s dolls carry several dates. At trial last week in a packed Riverside, California court, Bryant explained that he “postdated” one drawing “8/98.” While at Mattel, Bryant admittedly fine tuned the drawings and used elements from the Barbie and Ken dolls to mock up and photograph the dolls. According to Bryant, the mock up version had Barbie’s body and was wearing Ken’s boots. Prior to the May 27 trial date, Bryant settled out-of-court with Mattel for an undisclosed sum. It is MGA, who is on trial after having introduced millions of girls to the “Bratz” dolls in 2000.
Mattel is out to prove that Bryant was bound by the exclusivity agreements that required him to turn over all of his intellectual property to his employer. Yet, turning over information to Mattel has been an issue for Bryant in this litigation. The judge recently ruled that the jury will hear evidence that Bryant loaded a software program called “Evidence Eliminator” on his computer prior to turning it over to Mattel investigators. That may explain Bryant’s pre-trial settlement. However, with revenues estimated at nearly $2 billion, MGA has vowed to fight on.