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The Big Picture
- Mattel wins lawsuit, and declared they are not guilty of stealing toy show idea
- A jury ruled in the 6-year case, with Norton Herrick’s claims rejected
- Important case on intellectual property, pitching to studios.
Mattel, the leading toy company behind our favorite things like Barbie and more, has won big in a recent case against TV producerNorton Herrick. Mattel and Herrick were reportedly talking to each other about a reality show based on toys when Mattel pushed forward to make their own show, The Toy Box, in 2017. According to Herrick, his idea was similar to that of The Toy Box and was called Playmakers. Herrick claimed that Mattel took interest in the idea before working on The Toy Box and Herrick believed that the company stole his idea for the show.
The lawsuit has been going on for quite some time. A jury ruled recently in Mattel’s favor, but the suit began back in 2018. That puts this saga at a 6-year journey for both Mattel and Herrick. According to Herrick, his show would put toy inventors in front of child judges who would look at their creations and judge them accordingly. This is a very similar concept to what The Toy Box ended up being with the exception that the series had a connection with Toys “R” Us. The issue with Herrick and Mattel comes from Herrick’s claims that Mattel said they were moving forward with his idea (which he pitched in 2014) before switching gears and doing The Toy Box instead.
The jury found that Mattel did not steal the idea from Herrick, giving the studio a pass. They would have had to pay Herrick $46.2 million in damages had the case gone his way. But it is an important case to look at when talking about intellectual property and how pitching goes with studios and the individuals doing the pitching. Herrick might think his idea was similar but the jury did not.
This Is a Victory For Matell
Studios hear a lot of pitches every day and Herrick fought against the idea that Mattel came up with this on their own. To be fair to Mattel, it isn’t that outlandish for a toy company to have a show where kids are the judges. Companies like Hasbro and Mattel overuse kid toy testers to try out their products and see if it will work with a larger market so it isn’t outlandish to think that the company just took that idea one step further with the show and Herrick happened to also pitch a similar idea to them. This is a good thing for Mattel’s bank account but not so great for Herrick.
You can watch Mattel’s foray into movies with Barbie.
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