You Know You Lost When...

In a recent post, I highlighted the difficulty in ascertaining a clear victor in litigation, using the Winklevoss twins and their Facebook case as an example. Well, sometimes it's not so hard. For example, if you initiated the litigation seven years ago and just now won $10,000... well, that's not great. If the jury also found that you owe them $88.5 million!... trust me, you lost.

That's pretty much what happened to Mattel, maker of Barbie, when they sued MGA for stealing the designs for Bratz. Read more about it here. Of course, it ain't over 'till it's over, so we'll see if Mattel can pull something out.

Just for kicks, the employment law tie-in is that the $10,000 award was for contract interference.

Posted by Philip Miles, an attorney with McQuaide Blasko in State College, Pennsylvania in the firm's civil litigation and labor and employment law practice groups.