Comments on: Bratz copyright lawsuit tossed

By: blueelm

blueelm — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:49:00 +0000

I’ve actually felt the same way. The dolls remind me of certain anime styles and they’re clearly cartoons. I don’t like them, but they don’t *disturb* me.

By: blueelm

blueelm — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:45:00 +0000

Come on now, years ago the victims of nasal tuberculosis and syphilis lived in shame, hiding their disfigurement from the world. Show some mercy!

By: Marc45

Marc45 — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:10:00 +0000

Funny how when a corporation needs to use an individual’s work, copyrights don’t apply. You can bet if the reverse happened, the Bratz company would sue and win.

By: Brainspore

Brainspore — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:37:00 +0000

I didn’t say Apple wouldn’t try to stop them.

By: First Last

First Last — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:22:00 +0000

Apple will probably get around to taking them to court over that once they wrap up their current court case about Samsung android phones/tablets infringing patents by looking too much like the iPhone and iPad

By: Avram Grumer

Avram Grumer — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:47:00 +0000

As I recall, “super deformed” characters (what we now call “chibi”) have squat bodies and short limbs.

By: Ewen Cluney

Ewen Cluney — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:34:00 +0000

AIC was producing anime and whatnot in some cases *literally* called “super deformed” (SD for short) in the 80s.

By: Brainspore

Brainspore — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:47:00 +0000

I worked a stint for Mattel once. Trust me, they didn’t skimp on lawyer fees either… but they lost their suit against MGA too. I know it seems almost too incredible to be true, but this could be a genuine instance of common sense winning out in an intellectual property case. (Fashion sense, not so much.)

By: Mister44

Mister44 — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:32:00 +0000

Yo Bratz, Japan called. They want their royalties for the whole “large head, exaggerated proportions” thing.

By: Brainspore

Brainspore — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:17:00 +0000

My biggest problem with the "Bratz" toy line is that they glorify acting like a brat.

By: Brainspore

Brainspore — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:14:00 +0000

Design patents are pretty easy to get around with a few minor tweaks though. That's why Samsung can make laptops that look so much like the Macbook Air.

By: angusm

angusm — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:31:00 +0000

I know it shouldn’t influence my thinking, but I’ve always found those Steve Madden ads so repellent that I can’t help feeling a touch of schadenfreude at the news that the photographer lost. They were all over the place a few years ago and I loathe them (and, by association, the whole Madden brand).

Of course, the dolls are equally hideous, so if a passing meteorite devastates the Bratz factory (miraculously without loss of life), my day will be complete.

By: Rob Beschizza

Rob Beschizza — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:04:00 +0000

See, the dolls don’t bother me a fraction of the photo. The photo is real people uncannily dysmorphed; the doll’s just a cartoon, with a much thicker layer of unreality between the design and consumers’ self-image.

By: nesnora

nesnora — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:33:00 +0000

These dolls are creepy and offensive, as well as his trashy, objectifying photography.

By: Jerril

Jerril — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:01:00 +0000

Seriously, this is what I thought of when I first saw Bratz. Once I got over the attack of the uncanny valley of course.

By: Ambiguity

Ambiguity — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:52:00 +0000

While I would normally applaud such a decision, in this case I wish they would have made an exception, forcing the manufacturer to halt production of those creepy things immediately.

By: Sekino

Sekino — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:44:00 +0000

Belair cannot monopolize the abstract concept of an absurdly large-headed, long limbed, attractive, fashionable woman…

Especially since Max Fleisher came up with such a concept 80 years ago…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Boop

By: Brad H.

Brad H. — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:50:00 +0000

As a male my ideal disproportionate female figure would be on Barbie doll levels. Unless there is something in those big heads (having watched the Bratz cartoon with my niece, the indication is no.)

Anyways, I thought it was the other way round. There was an ad for Steve Madden in Melbourne that got Hitler moustached and tagged with “Bratz ripoff!”. Damn tweens…

By: Lobster

Lobster — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:39:00 +0000

Someone liked that idea so much that they stole it?

See, humanity, THIS is why we can’t have nice things.

By: phoomp

phoomp — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:14:00 +0000

Doubtful

By: Halloween_Jack

Halloween_Jack — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:11:00 +0000

Every time I see a Bratz doll, I still have to suppress the impulse to scream, “WHERE IS YOUR NOSE?”

By: monopole

monopole — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:54:00 +0000

“…the idea is grotesquely disproportionate images of young women.”
Bratz Dolls May Give Girls Unrealistic Expectations Of Head Size:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mw1ARQc7vw

By: caipirina

caipirina — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:43:00 +0000

The whole copyright thing is really going crazy … soon you will not be able to play a song because it has a single note from famous song X in it … or paint a picture because it uses the color RED because Bono is sitting on that …

By: Electro_Jones

Electro_Jones — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 09:25:00 +0000

Everyone owes T. S. Sullivant’s estate a trillion dollars.

By: Finnagain

Finnagain — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:41:00 +0000

Maybe Cambridge will assert rights over this as well?

By: Erational

Erational — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:39:00 +0000

That was precisely my thought. Those things are horrifying.

By: SoItBegins

SoItBegins — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:14:00 +0000

[eye roll] You, sir, are a cynic.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 06:28:00 +0000

Sense, schmense. More likely, the person with the more expensive lawyers won.

By: koko szanel

koko szanel — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 06:27:00 +0000

but you can patent it, just ask Oakley or Apple.

By: penguinchris

penguinchris — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 06:21:00 +0000

Belair cannot monopolize the abstract concept of an absurdly large-headed, long limbed, attractive, fashionable woman

Has the judge seen either the original ad, or the dolls? “Attractive” and “fashionable” do not belong in that sentence, especially for the original ad which is grotesquely awful.