Unit 13. Barbie beats bratz in u.S. Court case

1. BEFORE LISTENING

1. Practice the pronunciation of the following words taken from the text which you are going to listen.

Famous, doll, company, jury, dispute, intellectual, to own, copyright, brand, decision, victory, however, amount, to award, damage, lawyer, to pursue, foremost, obligation, competitor, to engage, fraudulent, toymaker, to argue, to design, employee, occasion, concept, employment, bestseller, slice, to widen, character, analyst, profit, scene.

2. Give Russian equivalents to the following English words and word combinations.

The famous Barbie dolls, to win a court case against smb, a doll company, to settle a long-running dispute over smth, to own an intellectual copyright, an amount awarded in damages, lawyer, to make a statement, jury, to pursue a case, to have an obligation, to defend oneself against competitors, to engage in fraudulent activities against smb, juror, toymaker, to own rights, to argue, a former worker, employee, to work for smb on two occasions, to claim, to come up with a name and concept, employment, to become bestsellers, to take a large slice of the doll market, to widen someone’s brand, character, to arrive on the scene.

2. WHILE LISTENING

3. Listen to the text “Barbie beats Bratz in U.S. court case” twice. First time make notes about the numbers, geographical, proper or personal names which you might hear. When you are listening to the text for the second time, try to catch the events and the order in which they are spoken about.

4. Agree or disagree to the following statements.

1. The makers of the Barbie and Bratz dolls fought each other in court.

2. At question was who owned the copyright to the Barbie doll.

3. Barbie’s makers won a record $1.8 billion in damages.

4. The court decided the company MGA could continue making Bratz dolls.

5. The maker of the Bratz dolls is the world’s largest toy company.

6. The creator of the Bratz dolls used to work for Mattel, Barbie’s maker.

7. Bratz dolls were launched over 40 years ago.

8. The Bratz dolls have dented the sales of Barbie dolls.

5. Fill in the gaps using the following words.

Came, slid, rights, occasions, launch, whether, slice, former, decision, jury, less, victory, ourselves, famous, making, dispute

Barbie beats Bratz in u.S. Court case

Mattel, the makers of the _____ Barbie dolls, has won a $100 million court case against the Bratz doll company MGA. A _____ in America settled the long-running _____ over who owned the intellectual copyright of the Bratz brand. Mattel said the court decision was a big _____ for the company. However, the amount awarded in damages was a lot _____ than the $1.8 billion dollars Mattel’s lawyers wanted. CEO Robert Eckert made a statement describing the importance of the jury’s _____: "Mattel has pursued this case first and foremost as a matter of principle. We have an obligation to defend _____ against competitors who choose to engage in fraudulent activities against us," he said. The courts still need to decide if MGA can continue _____ the Bratz dolls.

Jurors had to decide _____ Mattel, the world’s largest toymaker, or MGA owned the __________ to the Bratz brand. Mattel argued that their __________ worker Carter Bryant designed the Bratz dolls while he was its employee. Mr. Bryant worked for Mattel on two __________, between 1995 and 1998 and again from 1999 to 2000. Bryant claimed he __________ up with the Bratz name and concept in the time between his two periods of employment with Mattel. The Bratz dolls have become bestsellers since their __________ in 2001. They have taken a large __________ of the doll market. MGA has widened its brand to include more than 40 characters. Analysts say the Bratz dolls make MGA around $500 million a year in profit. Barbie’s sales have __________ over 15 per cent since Bratz arrived on the scene.

3. AFTER LISTENING

6. Answer the following questions.

1. What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘doll’?

2. Do you think dolls are big business?

3. Can any doll ever dislodge Barbie from the number one position?

4. Do too many dolls have white skin and blonde hair?

5. Why has Barbie led the market for so long?

6. Why do you think dolls are so popular with children?

7. What dolls and other children’s toys most popular in your country?

8. Can boys play with dolls?

9. How have dolls changed over the years?

10. Do you think there needs to be controls over the marketing and advertising of dolls to children?

11. Would you prefer your children to play with toys other than dolls?

12. What do toymakers need to consider when marketing their dolls?

13. What new concept doll would you create for today’s kids?

14. What do you know about Barbie and Bratz?

15. Do you think working on the Barbie or Bratz products would be interesting?

16. Do you think MGA should be allowed to continue making Bratz dolls?

17. Should the Jury automatically believe Carter Bryant and award the rights of Bratz to MGA?

7. Match the following synonyms from the text.

   makers to settle dispute damages obligation whether former occasions slice to slide

   argument to go down duty to sort out ex- producers times share compensation if

8. Match the following phrases from the text (sometimes more than one combination is possible).

   A jury in America settled the intellectual the amount awarded first and We have an obligation to defend to own the rights Bryant claimed he came They have taken a large Barbie’s sales have slid since Bratz arrived

   up with the Bratz name in damages ourselves on the scene long-running dispute over 15 per cent slice of the doll market foremost copyright to the Bratz brand

9. Write down different words you associate with the word ‘copyright’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.