The maker of the Bratz line of dolls, has sued Lady Gaga.
Toy firm MGA Entertainment is alleging breach of contract and seeking more than $10 million in damages.
MGA Entertainment filed legal papers in New York saying the star caused “deliberate” delays to the release of a doll based on her image. It claimed the doll was to due to be in shops for Christmas, but the pop star wanted the release held back to tie in with a new album, scheduled for 2013.
The complaint says the toy company paid “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,” Bloomberg said.
The company claims it sent prototypes to Gaga’s team in March and was then asked that the doll’s facial structure “be more supermodel-like.” “Think a prettier version of Gaga,” MGA officials say they were instructed via emails. “Thin out the cheeks and sharpen the jawline. Give her more of a cat-eye and sexier, poutier lips.”
After meeting demands, which also included a “Born This Way” zombie doll collection, MGA sent more samples in April and at this point were allegedly instructed to remove its voice chip. Gaga’s team then asked that shipping be delayed until 2013, despite MGA already making deals with distributors on its end.
A spokeswoman for Lady Gaga said the singer hadn’t seen the complaint and had no comment. Amanda Silverman told Bloomberg news…
“This is a dispute between Universal Music Group’s merchandising company and MGA. There was no legitimate reason for dragging Lady Gaga into that dispute. Lady Gaga will vigorously defend MGA’s ill-conceived lawsuit and is confident that she will prevail.”
MGA has estimated that the line of dolls was due to make $28m in revenue for the Christmas 2012 retail season.
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