A lawyer for the maker of Bratz dolls sought a mistrial Friday in a copyright infringement case brought by Mattel Inc. after a juror was dismissed for allegedly making racial slurs.
The federal judge in the closely watched intellectual property dispute halted the presentation of evidence for the day while he questioned jurors about the comments, said attorney Thomas Nolan, who represents MGA Entertainment Inc., the maker of Bratz.
The judge then set a hearing for Aug. 4 to consider arguments to “determine whether or not the trial should proceed,” Nolan said.
Unless a mistrial is declared that day, the jury will return Aug. 5.
The dismissed juror made the remark about MGA chief executive Isaac Larian during jury deliberations in the first phase of the federal trial in Riverside, according to a court document.
That phase ended on July 18 when jurors found the designer of Bratz characters conceived the idea for the dolls while working for Mattel. The jury was hearing evidence about possible damages when the judge dismissed the juror.
The juror, a woman, was dismissed after another member of the panel complained that she made inappropriate comments about the ethnicity of Larian, an Iranian immigrant who is Jewish.
After interviewing jurors in his chambers, the judge told lawyers from the bench the woman said “words to the effect that Iranians are thieves, that they are stubborn,” Nolan said.
El Segundo-based Mattel said in a prepared statement it found the development to be “very unfortunate.”
“This trial, however, has been, and will continue to be, about Mr. Larian’s and MGA’s wrongful behaviour. Nothing changes that,” the statement said.
Nolan said his client is entitled to an impartial jury and that, based on the juror’s alleged statements, “the jury verdict was tainted.”
The jury ruled previously that Los Angeles-based MGA and Larian were liable for converting Mattel property for their own use and intentionally interfering with the contractual duties owed by the designer to Mattel.
Mattel lawyer John Quinn predicted the verdict would stand.
“Nine honest, unbiased, hardworking jurors ruled unanimously in favour of Mattel,” Quinn said in a statement, after the juror was dismissed.
Mattel, the maker of Barbie, filed the lawsuit against MGA, which began marketing the hugely popular Bratz line of sassy urban dolls in 2001, estimated to have made MGA more than US$500 million a year
