Barbie Beats Bratz

On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that Mattel is the legal owner of the wildly popular Bratz dolls, which are manufactured by Mattel's main rival, MGA Entertainment. The ruling comes from a previous ruling this year when a jury found that the Bratz creator, Carter Bryant, was working at Mattel under an exclusive contract when he came up with the idea for Bratz. MGA is a family-owned company that has based its empire on Bratz, and the new ruling could mean the end of the company. MGA plans to appeal the decision, which will not take effect until February 11, 2009. [LA Times]