BROOKLYN — Now a Brooklyn man says he should have the copyright to the infamous Bratz dolls that have been the subject of a multimillion dollar legal battle between Mattel and MGA.

After a lengthy legal dispute over copyright and trade secrets, Mattel was awarded $100 million in damages, as well as an injunction against MGA, which must stop making the Bratz dolls. Mattel successfully convinced a jury that Bratz-creator Carter Bryant had first conceived of the dolls while he worked at Mattel, which manufactures Barbie dolls. Bryant then left Mattel and went to work for MGA.

However, Bryant testified that his inspiration for Bratz came from a Steve Madden shoe ad in Seventeen magazine, which depicted similar-looking doll-like figures. When the creator of that ad found out about this testimony, he decided that he should then own the copyright.

Bernard Belair, an artist from Brooklyn, has now sued both Mattel and MGA in Manhattan federal court for copyright infringement. He claims Bryant’s Bratz sketches came from his art.

Prior to being served with the lawsuit, Mattel had recently said it planned to launch its own Bratz doll line in the spring of 2010.

Belair’s case is pending, as is a trade-secret theft case that remains between Mattel and MGA.

—Ryan Thompson
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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