You Don't Own Me: The Court Battles That Exposed Barbie's Dark Side

by Orly Lobel

Overview

“A hair-raising account of a Barbie Dreamhouse-size Jarndyce and Jarndyce.”—Jill Lepore, The New Yorker

This provocative work spotlights the legal battles between behemoth Mattel and audacious MGA over incredibly successful toys and the ownership of an idea. Law professor Orly Lobel deeply researched this riveting story, interviewing those involved, to draw attention to the contentious debate over creativity and intellectual property. She also explores female images and how we market cultural icons, from the doll that inspired all-American Barbie to the defiant, anti-establishment Bratz—the only doll to outsell Barbie in any year.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393356717
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	04/23/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	464,210
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Orly Lobel is the Don Weckstein Professor of Law at the University of San Diego and received her doctoral and law degrees from Harvard University. When a child, she starred in her psychologist mother’s studies on playing with Barbies. The award-winning author of Talent Wants to Be Free, she lives in La Jolla, California.

Table of Contents

Author's Note xi

Introduction xiii

Part 1 Carter's Angels

1 Inspired 3

2 Basura 19

3 Sugar Daddy 39

Part 2 Rewind: Building Toyland Upon Ego, Secrets, and Lies

4 Once Upon a Time, Barbie Was a German Hooker 59

5 The Psychologist Who Sold Sex 75

6 The Coldest Men in the Room 99

Part 3 Warring Titans

7 Fantasy, Meet Parody 125

8 Round 1: Titans, Ideas, and Ownership 145

9 Taming Barbie: Starring Judge Alex Kozinski as Speechzilla 175

10 Round 2: The Playground Bullies 193

11 The Jury Deliberation Room That Looked Like a Toys "R" Us 231

Epilogue: Innovation Beyond Toyland 245

Chronology 253

Acknowledgments 257

Notes 261

Index 269

Editorial Reviews

"A thrill ride through backstabbing competition, business strategies, and the marketing of the American icon Barbie. Who knew intellectual property law could be such a page turner? An amazing story and a great read."

Jonah Berger

"A fascinating, insightful, and accessible book with relevance for entrepreneurship and business in general, for copyright law and the legal profession as a whole, for individual success and the success of our economy. It is both pleasure reading and mandatory reading."

Tal Ben-Shahar

"Captivating.… Holds up a lipstick-pink mirror to both American consumer culture and corporate misbehaviour."

Times Higher Education - Laura Frost

"This book is a courtroom drama, a corporate exposé, and a case study of cutthroat creativity. Orly Lobel deftly explains why ownership of ideas should belong to people, not companies."

Adam Grant

"The Barbie vs Bratz case tells a compelling story and is an effective vehicle for Lobel’s call for creative freedom."

Times Literary Supplement - Rebecca Asher

"Fascinating.… Lobel pens a gripping tale of corporate malevolence, courtroom betrayal, and copyright hijinks… [and] tells the tale with verve and aplomb."

Claremont Review of Books - Michael M. Rosen

"Intellectual-property law made vivid, via an engaging narrative about the litigation surrounding, of all ‘people,’ Barbie."

Harvard Magazine

"In the hands of Lobel… this case study in who should benefit from an employee’s creativity becomes something of a page-turner."

Financial Times - Emma Jacobs

"A thrilling tale of dueling toymakers, corporate espionage and a group of brats taking on the queen of the Dreamhouse."

Lee Rawlesn Bar Association Journal

"A powerful, engrossing survey of business and social issues."

Diane Donovan

"A thrilling tale of dueling toymakers, corporate espionage and a group of brats taking on the queen of the Dreamhouse."

American Bar Association Journal - Lee Rawles

07/03/2017
The toy industry can be a cutthroat business, as Lobel (Talent Wants to Be Free) conclusively shows in this impressive account of the 10-year court battle waged between Mattel (maker of Barbie) and MGA Entertainment. The dispute began when designer Carter Bryant conceived of the sassy Bratz toy line, which became “the first doll to present a true market challenge to Barbie since her 1959 debut.” The issue: Bryant pitched the concept to MGA while still employed by Mattel, although he insisted the inspiration came to him while on leave from the latter. After Bratz became a runaway success, Mattel sued MGA for half a billion dollars. Lobel delves into the history of both companies and the backstories of various players. She also raises questions about intellectual-property litigation’s increasingly aggressive bent, which she argues poses the danger of stifling creativity and competition. A professor of law at the University of San Diego, Lobel spent years sifting through hundreds of documents and speaking with dozens of individuals related to the case. The end result is a thoroughly researched book that explains the legalese of patent, property, and copyright law in layman’s terms while providing an entertaining narrative. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

2017-09-24
Exploring the little-known battle for the Barbie doll empire.Lobel (Law/Univ. of San Diego; Talent Wants to Be Free: Why We Should Learn to Love Leaks, Raids, and Free Riding, 2013) bases much of her exposé on the arduous, decadelong copyright infringement litigation in which toy giant Mattel became embroiled in 2000. In 1998, creative artist Carter Bryant, who, after years of employment with Mattel, a company he believed to be "political, risk averse, and stuck in the past," took time off hoping to reignite his inspiration. After seven months in his rural Missouri hometown, the idea for four sassy, edgy, urban dolls was born and then shelved in favor of the steady income Mattel provided. Bryant's motivation returned, and using discarded doll parts and clothing scraps, he created rough doll mock-ups and pitched them to Mattel rival MGA Corporation and its competitive CEO and founder Isaac Larian, who immediately greenlighted the project. The massive success of the brazen Bratz line was enough to eventually dethrone the milquetoast Barbie doll. In her crisp narrative, the author pauses to ponder Mattel's notorious litigiousness and Barbie's iconic history, which is illuminating and contains some eyebrow-raising factoids—e.g., 1965's Slumber Party Barbie came equipped with a diet book (first rule: "Don't eat!") and immovable scale set at 110 pounds. The epic trial between these two toy titans spanned a decade and became a dizzying, ego-driven melodrama. Lobel's research is representative of how cutthroat the toy industry can be, a fact that may surprise readers unfamiliar with Mattel's long struggle to recoup Barbie's image ("ice queen doll") as it became replaced by customer fascination with the "modern, voluptuous, multiethnic" Bratz dolls. The author, whose mother is a renowned psychology professor, recognizes the "toy world's grip on society," and she bolsters her investigation with interviews and testimonials from attorneys, jurors, esteemed Judge Alex Kozinski, executives at both Mattel and MGA, and a barrage of financial reports and court documents.An aggressively researched toy story on the "doll-eat-doll world of litigation over inspiration."

Kirkus Reviews