Bratz trial returns

After a week-long recess, a federal judge will consider Bratz-maker MGA Entertainment's motion for a mistrial in the copyright infringement case with Mattel. Last month, a jury unanimously determined that the original Bratz sketches were made by a doll designer while he was still employed at Mattel. Then came the dismissal of a juror for making ethnic slurs about MGA CEO Isaac Larian, an Iranian-born immigrant. MGA filed for a mistrial and both sides have presented their respective arguments in court papers. MGA says the juror likely held prejudicial beliefs that affected her vote and possibly tainted other jurors. Mattel says that even though one juror behaved badly, "nine fair, honest, impartial jurors returned a unanimous verdict." From the WSJ's Law Blog:

Juror #8’s remarks reportedly characterized Iranians as “stubborn, rude” and as “thieves” who have “stolen other person’s ideas.” The remarks were made during deliberations in the first phase of the trial that found Larian had aided a Mattel Barbie designer, Carter Bryant, who created the Bratz concept in violation of his Mattel contract.