The presiding Judge Carter later reduced the jury’s award to US$85 million due to a slight “mathematical error”, but then granted MGA an additional US$85 million in exemplary damages. A further US$137 million was awarded to MGA for legal fees and other defence costs associated with defending the failed copyright claims brought by Mattel – resulting in a total award of over US$300 million.
Despite still publicly asserting that the Bratz doll designs have always belonged to Mattel, lawyers for the company filed papers with the US Court of Appeals on 27 February 2012 stating that “after two trials and eight years of litigation”, they will not contest the copyright finding in their appeal. Instead, Mattel is basing the appeal on arguments that:
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MGA’s successful claim for misappropriation of trade secrets was filed too late;
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MGA failed to prove that the information misappropriated by Mattel constituted a “trade secret” in every case; and
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the legal fees awarded to MGA were wrongly calculated and an abuse of discretion.
So while ownership of the “Girls with a passion for Fashion!” is no longer in doubt, the lengthy legal drama is not quite over yet.