Battle of the Dolls

Orly Lobel, a professor of law at the University of San Diego,  traces back to Barbie, the blonde bombshell’s roots to Bild Lilli, a sexually suggestive German toy made for adults. In 1959 Mattel, founded by Ruth and Elliot Handler, Launched a successor for American girls and named after their daughter Barbara. Soon Barbie captured and monopolised the doll market after becoming a lifestyle brand for young girls.

You Don’t Own me is about the intellectual property regime and the courtroom drama that Mattel launched against the MGA Entertainment, which since 2001 has made a competitor for Barbie, the multi-ethnic Bratz dolls. Carter Bryant, a high-fashion designer who created outfits for Barbie and in 1998, Bryant came up with the idea of Bratz and conceived Sassy Bratz toy line, which he sold to MGA. After discovering this deal Mattel went to court in 2004, insisting that it owned his ideas. “This is a war and sides must be taken: Barbie stands for good. All others stand for evil.” Lobel raises the questions about intellectual property litigation’s increasingly aggressive deed, which she argues poses the danger of stifling creativity and competition.

The company also sued pop band Aqua, which in 1997 had a super hit with “ Barbie Girl”, and a fetish-wear store called Barbie’s shop named after the owner Barbara.

Lobel’s mother a child development psychologist, would video and her friends as youngsters playing with dolls and this inspired her to become a toy industry critic from an early age.  Barbie has been criticised by feminists as a vanilla bimbo obsessed by her looks and figure.

Toy Industry is most ruthless and cutthroat business in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street and as Lobel conclusively shows in this book the 10-year court battle waged between Mattel and MGA entertainment. “Companies too often weave their tentacles around every creative concept thought up by their employees, even ideas developed during weekends and nights”.

You Don’t Own Me: How Mattel v. MGA Entertainment Exposed Barbie’s Dark Side BY Orly Lobel, WW Norton £20/ $27.95, 304 pages.