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Mattel Contests Attorney Fees in Bratz Doll Litigation

May 26, 2011 | Posted in : Billing Practices, Fee Dispute, Fee Dispute Litigation / ADR, Fee Entitlement / Recoverability, Fee Request, Prevailing Party Issues

A recent NLJ story, “Mattel Hotly Resists Demand it Pay Attorney Fees in Bratz Doll Battle” reports that MGA, which makes the Bratz doll is seeking $129,688,073 in attorney fees from Mattel under federal copyright law in light of a federal jury verdict on April 21 rejecting Mattel’s claims that MGA infringed on its copyright by hiring away a designer who allegedly stole the idea for the Bratz doll.  But Mattel lawyers argue the MGA Entertainment is not entitled to attorney fees just because it won a major trade secrets victory in court.

“To hold that the winning party has any entitlement or presumption of attorney fees would be…clearly reversible error,” Susan Estrich, a partner at Los Angeles-based Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, said.  MGA attorney Annette Hurst, a partner at San Francisco’s Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, argued in turn that the fees are necessary to fully compensate her client for the damages Mattel has done since first suing MGA in 2004.

Hurst insisted that her client’s fees have been “in furtherance of the purpose” of the Federal Copyright Act – which, under the law, is ground to recover legal fees.  She added that the fees are for the entire case because all the claims centered on one assertion: That MGA stole the idea for the Bratz doll by hiring away its designer.  “It was all related to the fundamental question of ownership of the Bratz copyright,” she said.

U.S. District Judge David Carter didn’t ruling on the attorney fees motion.  But he issued tentative orders during a hearing on some other motions, including that the parties exchange certain billing records.