Week 8 EOC: Bratz Brawl

Girl fight!!! But seriously, when I heard about this case the only thought that came to my head was "yawn".  I am not a big toy guy, and being some what of a "man's man" I couldn't care less over two doll companies battling over who did what.  I understand the angle though, and the article on the hearings was a good read.

In a nut shell last thursday, Mattel Inc., made famous for their Barbie doll line, headed back to court to once again try to prove that MGA Entertainment Inc. stole the toy company's intellectual property when they created the Bratz doll line a ten years ago.  Why? Mattel Inc. believes that MGA Entertainment Inc. did some top-secret missions to involving disguises, fake business cards, and dummy voices(Oh I can see the Saturday Night Live skit of that top-secret operation now).  The mission worked SO well they say that the spies were able to gain access to competitors' show rooms at toy fairs, got information on rivals' newest products, price lists and marketing strategies(according to court documents).  Wait, it gets better...Mattel (Barbie) says that MGA stole trade secrets by telling Mattel employees from Mexico, Cananda, and the U.S. to download Mttel documents before coming to work for MGA.  Mattel also states that several Mattel workers were hired in Mexico by MGA stole company documents that helped MGA start up a Mexico division very quickly using Mattel's mexican playbook.

The question I asked myself while reading is why? Why would someone go through this much trouble to get trade secrets and documents for a little girl (or maybe little boy's) toy doll?  Then I read that MGA Entertainment Inc. at its peek made 1 billion dollars in revenue! Everything began to make sense and fall into place.  This isn't a fight over a doll. This is a fight about cash!  Cash revenue that the Bratz doll was taking away from the powerful Barbie doll line in the same market.  At the end of the day something as innocent as a Barbie doll can be ruined in the capitalistic country and fought over as if it was World War 3, equipped with secret agents wearing disguised steal secrets, allegedly.  I understand where Mattel is coming from; they were here first and the Bratz doll is treading on their territory.  At what costs though? 
"It is a colossal waste of money," says Sean McGowan, toy industry analyst at Needham & Co. "I understand they wanted to send a message that they protect their intellectual property....Message delivered."