KEY POINTS:
Bratz creator Carter Bryant said yesterday he saw nothing wrong with pitching an idea for urban chic fashion dolls while working as a Barbie designer at Mattel, or with enlisting fellow Mattel employees to help him create models of the dolls.
Bryant, testifying in a federal trial brought by Mattel against Bratz maker MGA Entertainment over ownership of the doll franchise, also said it "was a general rumour" that some Mattel employees moonlighted for other toy makers to earn extra money.
In a lawsuit filed in 2004, Mattel claims it owns the original concept drawings for the four Bratz dolls because Bryant was working as a Barbie designer at its El Segundo, California design studio when he made them.
MGA, a family-owned toymaker that turned Bryant's drawings into a billion-dollar franchise, contends the original drawings were made in 1998 during a hiatus Bryant took from Mattel.
The Bratz line, launched in 2001, was an instant hit and began taking market share from Mattel's Barbie.
A jury in the Riverside, California trial will decide which company owns the drawings and others that Bryant made after he returned to Mattel, and whether MGA should forfeit some or all of its profits for Bratz.
Bryant said that he made colour tracings based on original Bratz drawings, made in 1998, in order to pitch the concept for the big-headed, big-footed multi-ethnic characters to other companies and to an agency that represents artists.
"I didn't think there was anything wrong with it because I didn't know if anything would come about from sending some drawings out," Bryant said. "My idea is that if something came about with this that I would leave and work on this."
He said he did not pitch Bratz to Mattel, and had no intention of creating a doll line that would compete with Mattel's Barbie.
Bryant also said he turned to fellow Mattel co-workers to help him assemble a Bratz model doll, but did not tell them that the model was meant to be shown to other toy companies.
"I don't think I understood at the time that MGA was a competitor of Mattel," Bryant said. "I knew they were a toy company. I didn't know how big they were."
"I didn't think it was any big deal to create some pitch materials," Bryant said. He said he had realised "several million dollars" in royalties from the dolls.
He said that although he signed an employment agreement that barred him from working for Mattel competitors, he did not fully understand that contract clause because it had not been explained to him by the company or an attorney.
"I had a general idea that it might not be acceptable," Bryant said. "[It wasn't directly] told to me."
CATFIGHT
* Barbie maker Mattel claims it owns the rights to the Bratz doll franchise because Bratz creator Carter Bryant conceived the design while working for Mattel.
* Bratz maker MGA says Bryant came up with the idea while on a hiatus from Mattel.
* Mattel reached a settlement with Bryant in May and dropped its lawsuit against him. Its case against MGA is being heard in California.
- REUTERS
