DOLL-BUSTER
After 10 yrs., epic Bratz-Barbiebi ffeudd rages on
The owner of Bratz dolls can’t let go of his Barbie obsession.
Isaac Larian, the chief executive of MGAEntertainment, has revived his more-than-decade-old fight against Barbie maker Mattel — again taking to social media and the courts to flog and shame executives at the rival toymaker.
The spat, one of the longest and nastiest among executives in the business world, is showing no evidence of slowing down.
“Soon Mattel will be on the bankruptcy block,” the 64-year-old toy industry executive said in a post on LinkedIn, without supplying any evidence that his rival’s financial condition was anything close to dire.
Larian and Mattel have been battling since the ’00s, when Mattel sued a toy designer who had resigned to join MGA.
Mattel claimed the designer came up with the idea for Bratz — the first real rival to the iconic Barbie doll — while working for Mattel.
A trial judge agreed and awarded Mattel all rights to Bratz.
Larian was able to overturn that decision on appeal and kept control of the lucrative Bratz line.
But the two sides have been at each other’s throats since then.
Larian has accused Mattel of stealing MGA’s trade secrets — and said lawyers for the rival toymaker once threatened to take away Larian’s home.
Larian also tried twice to buy Mattel — most recently last April — but was rebuffed both times. That left him even more bitter. The billionaire toy mogul’s actions include swipes at Mattel executives like Steve Totzke, a 20-year company veteran who was promoted this month to chief commercial officer.
Totzke has threatened Larian with legal action for the incendiary comments the MGA executive posted on social media.
“I was shocked by your public LinkedIn posting in which you falsely accused meof using a fake ID to gain access to your showroom in Hong Kong to steal your secrets,” Totzke wrote in a letter to Larian, a copy of which The Post reviewed. “That never happened.”
Whenhewas vying to buy Mattel, Larian owned a sizable chunk of the company’s shares. After his latest effort was turned aside, Larian sold his shares and, he told The Post, shorted Mattel stock — that is, madeawager that its shares will fall.
Mattel shares are down 3.9 percent this year — to $15.40 at Friday’s close.
Larian is now gearing up for another round of costly litigation.
Despite the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by both sides — court documents put Mattel’s total tab at more than $400 million — Larian’s legal team is about to go to court to try to overturn a trial court’s ruling that Mattel did not steal MGA’s trade secrets.
“This case has burned a bonfire of money, maybe the equivalent of the GDP of a small nation,” said one insider, whodid not want to be identified. “And yet there is no real sense of what either company has gotten out of it.”
Over nearly a decade, the case has undergone three appeals and two separate jury trials.
Larian says his tough stance stems from the personal nature of the court battle. Mattel, he claims — without offering any proof —“hired private investigators to follow my father, mywife and my children.”
Mattel is trying to get past the legal tiffs.
“Our focus is on the future, and on using the power of our beloved global brands to inspire, entertain and develop children through play,” Mattel said in a statement. “We look forward to putting this litigation behind us.”