After a high-stakes trial, a jury has found that Mattel did not steal a reality show concept from producer Norton Herrick, marking a major victory for the toy giant, which could have been on the hook for $46.2 million in damages.
The verdict follows a 2½-month civil trial in Santa Monica that pitted the “Lone Survivor” producer against the company whose intellectual property spawned the Hollywood blockbuster “Barbie.” In a crushing blow, the 12-member jury shot down Herrick’s claims of breach of an implied contract, breach of confidence, fraud-misrepresentation, fraud-concealment and misappropriation of trade secrets.
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Herrick initially sued Mattel in 2018, claiming that the company stole his idea for Mattel’s reality competition show “The Toy Box,” which ran on ABC for two seasons beginning in 2017. Back in 2014, Herrick brought a similar competition show to Mattel executives dubbed “Playmakers,” which revolved around contestants pitching their toys to child judges and winning prize money. Mattel executives allegedly loved Herrick’s idea and indicated they were moving forward with it but instead pursued a replica without his involvement.
Although the case involved a team of high-profile attorneys on both sides, Herrick Productions v. Mattel largely flew under the radar, with almost no reporting on the six-year court battle. Mattel was repped by Larry Iser, Patti Millett, and Kristen Spanier of Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir, and Herrick was repped by Bryan Freedman and Jesse Kaplan of Freedman + Taitelman and Miles Feldman, Robert Shore and Josh Williams of Raines Feldman.
Herrick Productions v. Mattel became the rare Hollywood case that moved all the way to trial. As such, the implications were huge for the studios, which operate on a steady churn of pitches from writers and producers, with some feeling robbed when similar projects make it to the screen without their participation.
Herrick, whose credits include the Mark Wahlberg-Denzel Washington action-thriller “2 Guns” and “Waitress: The Musical” for the stage, first met with Mattel executives in person in June 2014, when he submitted a written deck, topped with a confidentiality notice, that described the format in detail. According to Herrick’s lawsuit, Mattel’s team said two months later that they wanted to “have attorneys finalize a written contract” and that “Mattel and Herrick again discussed financing, including the possibility of Norton Herrick self-funding ‘Playmakers’ if needed. Herrick left the meeting believing it had a partner for ‘Playmakers.’”
He was then allegedly strung along, preventing him from taking his pitch elsewhere. He was blindsided by “The Toy Box,” which debuted on ABC three years later. In court, Feldman argued, “It’s not credible, nor is it reasonable for them to say, ‘I’m going to hear all of this, and I’m suddenly going to invent something.’ That’s not how it works.” In court, Feldman estimated damages to be $46,213,697 based on a lost profits calculation.
Mattel’s lawyers fought the case aggressively, hoping to avoid an outcome like a dispute over the Bratz doll line. In that case in 2011, a jury found that Mattel had stolen trade secrets from California start-up MGA Entertainment, which was awarded nearly $90 million.
In court, Iser said Mattel “cares very deeply about its reputation.” He added: “Mattel is a true American success story. It was founded by a husband and wife in their garage in the San Fernando Valley. Mattel and its brands like Barbie and Hot Wheels are household names that have brought joy to generations of children … Mattel didn’t grow to its position at the top of the toy world by stealing and lying. … It got there the old-fashioned way, by earning it.”
Representatives for Mattel and Herrick could not be immediately reached for comment.
