War of the Dolls: Barbie Vs. Bratz Translates To Mattel Vs. MGA - Bratz Dolls Infringed On Barbie Doll Copyright

Intellectual property rights are very important nowadays where mere ideas and concepts can be the capital to any successful business venture. It used to be that you had to create some tangible product and manufacture it to make your business empire. These days it can become much easier to create that business, but it can also be that easier to lose!

Bratz for instance, which looks weirdly like Barbie in most ways has recently been canned by federal court recently and will have to stop selling come next year.


“In the most dire scenario, MGA can’t sell Bratz at all and a humongous chunk of their business disappears,” said Needham & Co. analyst Sean McGowan. “But it’s likely they will work out a way for MGA to stay in business but Mattel to profit.”

Here's some more detail from MSNBC.

The federal judged banned MGA from making and selling all 40 dolls in the Bratz line, which it began selling in 2001, including the four originals — Yasmine, Chloe, Sasha and Jade. U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson also ordered MGA to reimburse its vendors and distributors for the cost of the dolls and all shipping charges for sending them back.

The ruling, issued in a California federal court, followed a jury’s finding that Bratz designer Carter Bryant developed the concept for the dolls while working for Mattel. The same jury later awarded Mattel $10 million for copyright infringement and up to $90 million for breach of contract after a lengthy trial stemming from Mattel’s 2004 lawsuit ended in August.

The post-trial dispute that prompted Wednesday’s ruling centered on whether the jury found that only the first generation of Bratz dolls infringed on Mattel’s copyright or whether all the dolls in the line were in violation.

The jury verdict form asked panelists only to find whether there was infringement and assign a dollar reward, but did not ask them to specify which dolls violated the law.

If you're asking, what led to this scuffle? The Bratz range of dolls were the first serious competition given Mattel's fashion doll queen, Barbie. In 2004, sales figures showed that Bratz dolls were outselling Barbie dolls in the United Kingdom, although Mattel maintained that in terms of the number of dolls, clothes and accessories sold, Barbie remained the leading brand. In 2005, figures showed that sales of Barbie dolls had fallen by 30% in the United States, and by 18% worldwide, with much of the drop being attributed to the popularity of Bratz dolls.

In April 2005, MGA Entertainment filed a lawsuit against Mattel, claiming that the "My Scene" line of Barbie dolls had copied the doe-eyed look of Bratz dolls. The lawsuit is currently pending in the court system of California.[13]

Mattel sued MGA Entertainment for $500 million alleging that Bratz creator Carter Bryant was working for Mattel when he developed the idea for Bratz. And so here we are now, Barbie wins over Bratz

What Happens When A Company Veers Away From Its Brand Color? Starbucks Goes Red This Holiday Season

Starbucks goes red? When a company intentionally veers from its traditional brand color, there better be a darned good reason. Starbucks for instance has joined the Product (red) brigade, spearheaded by U2's Bono to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

It's marketing for a cause and it's a beautiful thing. When companies make themselves productive beyond the scope of their own profitability, it is just a blessing not only to the organization but to the world



Seeing a company that contributes to the world's sustainability is impressive. Companies in the private sector do not operate in a vacuum, but in a world where at some point everyone is interconnected.

Every time you buy coffee at Starbucks, five cents will be contributed to Africa. It's not a lot but it can save lives. It's a good start. When company brands as big as Starbucks start to take notice, I certainly do hope others will follow. This is a great way to blend holiday marketing as well.

How The Number 1 Brand In The World Stays On Top - The Secret Of Louis Vuitton

Louis Vuitton was recently ranked the No. 1 luxury brand in the Millward Brown BrandZ ranking of the Top 100 Most Powerful Brands, a list that covers 50,000 brands worldwide according to Forbes.

So what's their brand secret? Well for one, they are revolutionary. Consider their newest endorser - Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. He's not the typical celebrity endorser and they know it. But why pick him? They want trend-setters and jet-setters. People who will pay the extra grand to get the best in luxury.

The economy is already unstable as it is, why settle for the girl/ boy next door who might not even have enough money to spare? Louis Vuitton is going for class A, retirement age individuals who have money to burn.

Bold moves like this keep Louis Vuitton ahead of the pack currently with a brand value of $25.74 million. Sometimes it's just amazing how they started as a steamer trunks and luggage retailer in 1854 and eventually evolved into the marquee brand they are today.

When Two Well-known Brands Collide (Volkswagen And Porsche)

Here's amazing news from Forbes.com on the possible fusion of well-known car brands Volkswagen and Porsche!

Porsche's announcement on Monday that it had decided to take a majority stake in Volkswagen came just hours after Volkswagen itself announced it was taking majority control of Swedish truck maker Scania. Two big moves within 24 hours? It was all in a day's work for the 70-year-old grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, and typical of his bold leadership.

Piech is the chairman of Volkswagen, but also one of the biggest shareholders in Porsche, with a 13% stake. Born in Vienna, Austria, Piech cut his teeth in the car business, having started out designing and engineering new Porsche models when he was just 26.

In his golden years he has been doing a lot more corporate engineering, facilitating talks between German truck maker MAN and Swedish rival Scania, and pushing for a three way tie-up with Volkswagen's Brazilian truck business last year. That now process should get into gear now that there is little doubt about the future ownership of Scania.

In fact the tie-up of VW, Scania and Porsche spells a European auto giant that makes everything from affordable cars, to trucks, to city buses, to luxury cars and limos. Will Piech want to spin off the truck division? Probably not. The truck making industry is on a roll at the moment and companies like Scania, Volvo and Daimler are reeling from the strong demand in Eastern Europe and other emerging markets.

What Piech really wants is full, unadulterated control of Volkswagen by Porsche itself. That may seem odd to the uninitiated, since Piech is already VW's chairman. But there is a there is a psychological element behind his strategy. "Piech comes from the family that founded both Porsche and VW and he has been working his whole life to bring them back together," said Roman Mathyssek, senior auto analyst for Global Insight.

Volkswagen came about in 1933 when Ferdinand Porsche, Piech's grandfather, was commissioned by the German government to great a "volkswagen"--literally "people's car" in German--that could carry five people. The "volkswagen" went on to become its own corporate entity, though the ties to Porsche have remained strong over the decades.

Today, though there are myriad family interests to complicate matters, nothing much happens at Porsche without Piech's say so. Soon enough, nothing much will happen at Volkswagen without Porsche-as-a-company's say so.

Hence the drive to get Porsche's official stake in Volkswagen above 50%. For Porsche to use Volkswagen's research and development expertise or collaborate on a project, it'll need to go through the right corporate channels. Porsche may also push for restructuring at Volkswagen. At the moment, the State of Lower Saxony, a region in Germany that is the second largest shareholder of Volkswagen, is loathe to make job cuts at VW, but Piech may well see inefficiencies that need addressing and want to use Porsche to direct the change.

In a nutshell, says Mathyssek, Porsche will benefit from VW's breadth of technical expertise (think Audi) while VW will benefit from Porsche as a stable majority shareholder. Above all, Piech will realize his vision.

(image from Weblo.com)

How To Start A Marketing Budget That Works

So you’ve set up your company, you’re experts at what you do, you are the best in your industry, you’re a cut above the rest. You know it. But how about the rest of the world?

The phrase, “build it and they will come” doesn’t really apply anymore, particularly in the information super highway that plays hosts to millions upon millions of websites.

Allocating marketing spend should not be as difficult as getting your tooth pulled. It should be equated to buying stocks and bonds. It is risky but when managed properly it will bring in the returns you seek.

You want people to know your company and your business - that much you know. Now take it a step further and start planning your marketing budget. You will have to start with the bare necessities:

• Branding. First you will have to establish company brand and image. This is necessary to start off. It’s like courting - difficult to win a girl (or guy) over if she (or he) doesn’t see you or hear from you. So you will have to allocate this expense (rather sizable in the first few months, this will most likely be 20-30% of your marketing spend).

• Growth. Next, use marketing to help you grow your business. The more you are out there, tapping the right markets and creating networks, the more your client pool will expand. It will be beneficial if you incorporate expenses in marketing that will give you the extra mile. Eventually you’ll have to start thinking about economies of scale and how they can play into your budget maintenance once you’ve established your position in the market place.

• Follow-through. Marketing is useless if you don’t have what it takes to back it up. By proportion (assuming the marketing campaign is effective), the size of the marketing efforts should equate to the influx of potential clients you may have. So make sure there is adequate correspondence between outgoing spend, incoming clients and fulfillment capacity.

*Important Note*

If you find the article too long, forget everything BUT this: Marketing pays for itself. If your marketing is NOT paying for itself and returning profit then it is NOT working.