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| Wikimedia Commons / John Robert Charlton |
Lady Gaga (a/k/a Stephanie Germanotta) and her management company were sued by MGA Entertainment Inc., the maker of
Bratz toys, over allegedly failing to approve a line of dolls in the singer’s
likeness.
MGA is asserting claim for breach of contract in New York State Supreme Court, and is seeking more
than $10 million in damages from Lady Gaga, her management company, California-based Atom Factory,
and Los Angeles-based Bravado
International Group, a merchandising company.
MGA
Entertainment alleges that it agreed to produce dolls in Lady
Gaga’s image in December 2011 and paid
the company a $1 million fee in anticipation of shipping the products to
retailers this summer in time for the holiday selling season.
In April of this year,
Bravado Chief Executive Officer Tom Bennett, allegedly told MGA’s chief executive
officer Issac Larian that Lady Gaga wanted
to delay production and shipping of the dolls until her new album is released
in 2013.
MGA claims that the defendants have continued to
withhold final approval in order to delay marketing the dolls until next year
and instead sell a licensed Lady Gaga perfume called “Fame.”
“The Defendants’
conduct is egregious, in bad faith and is pretextual, especially in light of
the fact that MGA has, among other things, paid Bravado a $1,000,000 advance,
agreed to an excessively generous royalty rate, invested millions in the
preproduction of the Lady Gaga dolls and put its reputation and goodwill on the
line in order to secure distributors and retail shelf space,” MGA Entertainment
asserts in the complaint.
