Los Angeles - The battle of the super-dolls has been decided. Mattel, the world's largest toy company and the maker of Barbie dolls, has won a crucial court battle that could prematurely end the career of Barbie's biggest-ever competitor, the sassy line of Bratz dolls.

In a court ruling Wednesday, federal judge Stephen Larson granted Mattel's request to force Bratz maker MGA to stop making the multi- ethnic dolls and from using the Bratz product name. Earlier in the year, a jury found that the Bratz designer had developed the concept for the dolls while on an exclusive work contract with Mattel before moving to MGA. The jury awarded Mattel 100 million dollars in damages - just 5 per cent of what the company had sought.

"Mattel has established its exclusive rights to the Bratz drawings, and the court has found that hundreds of the MGA parties' products, including all the currently available core female fashion dolls Mattel was able to locate in the marketplace, infringe those rights," Larson said in his ruling.

Larson's order also gave Mattel the right to force the recall of all Bratz dolls from retailers. But pre-teen girls who are the dolls' main fans will still be able to get them for Christmas. The order does not take effect until the next court hearing scheduled for February 11.

Bratz have been a strong competitor to Barbie and are the main product line of MGA, which says it will be forced to close without Bratz. The company employs more than 1,500 people in the Los Angeles area and is to seek a stay on the injunction pending an appeal.

Even if Mattel does close down the Bratz line, Barbie would still face tough competition. Over the last year dolls from the Hannah Montana TV series have overtaken Bratz as Barbie's top competitor.