LeapFrog Says Mattel Copied Its Technology
A lawyer for LeapFrog Enterprises Inc. told a jury Monday that Mattel Inc. copied LeapFrog’s technology for electronic books that helps children learn to read.
LeapFrog, which makes LeapPad electronic books, is seeking $78 million in damages on a claim that Mattel’s Fisher-Price unit infringed its patent on books in which children can push letters in a word to hear how they sound. Mattel said that its PowerTouch books used different technology and that the LeapFrog patent was invalid.
“The reason they developed the PowerTouch was the LeapPad’s phenomenal success in the marketplace,” LeapFrog lawyer Ron Shulman told jurors in Wilmington, Del.
The LeapPad book, first sold in 1999, is the cornerstone of LeapFrog’s business with more than 20 million units sold, Shulman said. LeapFrog reported a 21% drop in revenue in 2004 in its U.S. consumer division, in part because of lower LeapPad sales, and the company’s shares have dropped 47% in the last year.
Mattel, based in El Segundo, is the world’s biggest toy maker, with products including Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels. It introduced the PowerTouch book in 2003.
The Fisher-Price unit “is dedicated to civility in the marketplace,” the company’s lawyer, Richard DeLucia, told jurors. “Competition doesn’t prove patent infringement. It’s what you’re supposed to do.”
Shulman said LeapFrog founder Michael Wood developed the interactive books to help children learn phonetics. When the “c” in “cat” is pushed, it connects to a switch and the LeapPad book pronounces it like “k.” When the “c” in “race” is pushed, the book pronounces it like an “s.”
“No one in the world ever thought of what Mr. Wood invented before Mr. Wood did,” Shulman said.
DeLucia said the PowerTouch was different because when one letter in a word was pushed, the book sounded out all the letters in that word. He also said LeapFrog’s patent was invalid because it didn’t contain a new invention.
Texas Instruments Inc. introduced the Super Speak & Read in the 1980s, and other phonics methods and electronic books have been around for years, DeLucia said.
“Fisher-Price does not owe them tens and tens of millions of dollars,” DeLucia said.
The trial, before U.S. District Judge Gregory M. Sleet, is scheduled to last five days.
Mattel shares rose 32 cents to $18.25. Shares of Emeryville, Calif.-based LeapFrog rose 52 cents to $10.60. Both trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
