The most anticipated witness in the Bratz trial took the stand Thursday for what is expected to be several days of testimony.

Carter Bryant, creator of the racy doll line, appeared in federal court in Santa Ana for the retrial of the copyright infringement dispute between toy giant Mattel Inc. and bitter rival MGA Entertainment Inc.

A major point of contention centers on precisely when and where Bryant, now 42, came up with the idea for the pouty-lipped, big-headed multi-ethnic girls. The toys exploded onto the doll stage when they were released in 2001 and damaged sales of Mattel's Barbie empire. 

Bryant used to be a Barbie designer for Mattel and has contended that he came up with the idea for Bratz in 1998 when he was on a break from the company and living with his parents in Missouri. Mattel says that he came up with the idea during his second stint with the company, after he returned from Missouri, and that he violated the terms of his contract by taking the concept for the dolls to rival MGA.

During 2 1/2 hours of questioning by Mattel lawyer Bill Price on Thursday, Bryant testified about several issues, including the dates that he created the original Bratz drawings, and his contract -- or "inventions agreement" -- with Mattel. 

Dressed in a light blue shirt, a green-and-blue striped tie and khakis, the slightly built Bryant appeared solemn but polite through most of his testimony, repeatedly answering Price with "I don't remember" or "I don't know." Most of the questions related to the period from 1995, when Bryant first began working for Mattel, and 2002, after the dolls had became a huge hit -- and around the time when, Mattel lawyers allege, MGA began engaging in an elaborate cover-up of the dolls' origins.

Mattel's lawyers have noted Bryant's difficulty in proving that he came up with the idea for the dolls and did drawings as early as 1998. Although several of Bryant's original Bratz drawings have his name and the year 1998 scrawled along the bottom of the pages, the lawyers pointed out that he didn't get them officially notarized until August 1999, when he was under Mattel's employ, and that "1998" could have been added any time.  

Price: “It's fair to say you have no recollection of that date being put on that drawing in 1998?"

A Canadian man who ran a telemarketing scam targeting elderly Americans was sentenced to nine years in federal prison, prosecutors said Thursday in Los Angeles.

John Raymond Bezeredi of Vancouver was sentenced to 109 months late Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess, who said the scheme was “cold, calculating, callous.”

Bezeredi, 49, used fraudulent companies with names such as Imperial Investments and Dominion Investments to solicit money, promising that the funds would be pooled in European prize bonds and used to buy lottery tickets.

His 4,500 victims, many who have since passed away, were told that the investments were guaranteed. Some participants eventually received small payments masquerading as dividends or winnings; most just got more solicitations for money.

Bezeredi has been ordered to pay more than $4.5 million in restitution, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.

Though he was first charged in 2004, prosecutors said he operated the scam from 2000 through 2005. A grand jury indicted him in 2006 and he was extradited to the U.S. in 2009 and has been in custody since.

The FBI and the Federal Trade Commission were among the agencies investigating his activities. In September of 2009, Bezeredi pleaded guilty to a single count of mail fraud related to a victim in Glendale.

-- Tiffany Hsu

In a break for consumers, the threat of $100-a-barrel oil is quickly receding.

U.S. crude prices slid again Thursday, ending below $86 a barrel, as domestic inventories rose and a Kuwaiti oil executive warned about the run-up in prices since summer.

Near-term crude futures contracts in New York fell $1.69, or 1.9%, to $85.64 a barrel, the lowest since Nov. 30.

The price has fallen 6.8% from its recent peak of $91.86 on Jan. 12.

The government’s latest data on oil inventories showed U.S. supplies rose 4.8 million barrels last week, to 340.5 million, the biggest one-week rise since mid-October. Gasoline inventories also rose, for the ninth time in 10 weeks.

Meanwhile, the head of Kuwait Petroleum Corp. on Thursday expressed concern that the jump in oil prices over the last four months could slow the global economy.

“I'd be lying to you if I told you that I'm enjoying these high prices, because it makes me nervous,” Farouk al-Zanki told Reuters. “We don't want a repeat of the 2008 situation. We want the price to come down a little.”

This week, Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali Naimi hinted that his nation would boost output, if necessary, to keep oil from reaching $100 a barrel.

Crude traded as low as $71.63 a barrel in late August, when fears were rising that the U.S. economy could fall back into recession. But since then oil and other many commodities have surged as economic data have pointed to a continuing expansion.

In recent weeks, though, U.S. oil prices have pulled back even as prices of many other key commodities have held up. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB index of 19 major commodities slid 0.4% on Thursday but is off a modest 1% from its two-year high reached Jan. 12.

So far, U.S. energy markets haven't gotten a boost from concerns about social unrest in Tunisia, Yemen and Egypt, and the threat that could pose to the region’s oil-exporting regimes.

But analysts note that rising U.S. crude inventories have caused a record disparity between prices here and in London, where oil remains near $99 a barrel.

-- Tom Petruno

The Dow is toying with investors.

For the second consecutive day, the Dow Jones industrial average climbed above 12,000 in the morning, fell below that level midday but was back above it in the final minutes of the trading day.

But, alas, it again wasn’t to be.

The major indexes softened at the final bell, preventing the Dow from finishing above 12,000 and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index from reclaiming 1,300.

Both indexes, of course, had been much higher during the bull market that preceded the global financial crisis, with the Dow topping 14,000 and the S&P exceeding 1,500 in October 2007.

For whatever reason, indexes often hesitate as they near milestone numbers -- even if they're the equivalent of do-overs. But they eventually make their way through.

And it’s not as if investors aren’t making money.

The Dow rose for the third time in four days this week, closing up 4.39 points, or 0.04%, at 11,989.83. The S&P, which has been up every day this week, rose 2.91 points, or 0.2%, to 1,299.54. Both indexes are at their highest levels since the bull market began in March 2009.

-- Walter Hamilton

This economic downturn has been characterized by worse long-term unemployment than any other since the government began keeping records in 1948. But even as the economy begins to recover, long-term unemployment continues to plague millions of Americans, according to a report released Thursday by the Pew Charitable Trusts' Fiscal Analysis Initiative.

About 30% of those out of work in December 2010 had been without a job for a year or more, Pew said. That's more than 4.2 million people -- roughly the population of Kentucky. Although long-term unemployment affects all age groups, as the above chart shows, more older workers are having trouble getting back to work.

About 40% of all unemployed adults ages 55 to 64 have been out of work for a year or more. Contrast that with people ages 20 to 24 -- only 21% of them have been out of work for a year or more. The majority of the younger age group has been out of work for less than 26 weeks, Pew said.

Education doesn't necessarily help either. In December 2010, 191,000 people with an advanced degree had been out of work for a year or more -- 34% of all the unemployed with advanced degrees. Of course, 1.3 million people with a high school diploma had been out of work for a year or more.

The long-term unemployed are costly to the government. Federal spending on unemployment benefits will reach $129 billion in 2011. About $63 billion of that is to pay for benefits longer than the 26 weeks usually available to people.

That $129 billion is still $30 billion less than what was spent in 2010. That's because a $25 weekly supplemental benefit has expired and because the government expects fewer people to need benefits as the recovery continues.

RELATED:

For many unemployed workers, jobs aren't coming back

Older workers still suffering, job numbers show

Long-term unemployed aim to become a political force

-- Alana Semuels

Dexus Property Group said Thursday that it had bought the massive headquarters of furniture retailer Living Spaces in La Mirada for $26.25 million.

Living Spaces uses the 278,000-square-foot building as a warehouse and retail sales center for its line of furniture and other home items. It is one of seven stores operated by the regional company and also houses the company’s executive offices.

Dexus didn’t reveal the name of the seller, but real estate data provider CoStar Group identified the previous owner as LBA Realty of Irvine.

Living Spaces occupies the building at 14501 Artesia Blvd. under a lease that lasts until 2016, Dexus said. It uses 120,000 square feet for a showroom, 140,000 square feet for a warehouse and 10,000 square feet for offices.

Dexus, a large commercial real estate company based in Australia, opened an office in Newport Beach last year in anticipation of acquiring hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of industrial properties.

This is Dexus’ second acquisition since it arrived in Newport Beach. In October, it spent $14.4 million for a multitenant industrial property in Industry.

The Living Spaces purchase is consistent with Dexus’ strategy of concentrating and repositioning its U.S. real estate investments into West Coast markets, including the Los Angeles area and the Inland Empire, said Bryan Bentrott, managing director.

-- Roger Vincent

Photo: Living Spaces store and warehouse in La Mirada. Credit: Dexus Property Group

In another reminder of the worsening debt loads of developed nations, Standard & Poor’s on Thursday cut Japan’s credit rating one notch, citing the country’s continuing large budget deficits and the burden of an aging population.

Japan’s rating was trimmed to AA-minus from the AA rating it had held since 2007. The country lost its top AAA rating from S&P in 2001 after more than a decade of economic malaise.

Japan’s total public debt is about 200% of gross domestic product, the highest of any developed country and more than double the U.S. ratio.

S&P said the downgrade reflected its concern that Japan’s debt ratio would continue to rise as annual budget deficits piled up. It forecasts a deficit of 9.1% of GDP in the current fiscal year, and expects that to decline “only modestly” to 8% in fiscal 2013.

“Japan’s debt dynamics are further depressed by persistent deflation,” S&P said. “In addition, Japan’s fast-aging population challenges both its fiscal and economic outlooks.”

The government “lacks a coherent strategy to address these negative aspects of the country’s debt dynamics,” the ratings firm said.

With the U.S. budget deficit this year expected to be about 10% of GDP, S&P has warned Washington that it shouldn’t take its AAA-rating for granted -- although there’s no indication that S&P or its rivals, Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings, are itching to downgrade the U.S. any time soon.

One advantage Japan has is that it mostly funds its own debt load internally, as opposed to relying on foreign creditors. That’s a big reason why its government bond yields still are so low -- just 1.2% on 10-year notes, compared with about 3.40% on U.S. 10-year Treasury notes.

-- Tom Petruno

Here's your throwaway Thursday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

-- TV viewers are lovin' their Netflix. The online video-rental service says it has surpassed 20 million subscribers and forecasts faster growth than analysts had projected, according to Bloomberg. Netflix is expanding outside the U.S. and adding online content to reduce the cost of mailing DVDs. As more people subscribe, it’s becoming easier to obtain rights from Hollywood studios to air films and television shows over the Internet, says company CEO Reed Hastings. Netflix will "steadily" announce new or expanded multiyear content agreements every few months this year, he says.

-- Now that AT&T is about to lose its iPhone exclusivity, the company says it'll be heavy into smart phones featuring Google's Android operating system. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson says the company will start "very aggressively" marketing Android phones now that Verizon will also be offering iPhones. Verizon has been the biggest supporter of Android to date, but its introduction of the iPhone on Feb. 10 could change the company's focus. In effect, reports the Associated Press, AT&T and Verizon Wireless are set to swap strategies in the high-stakes smart-phone market.

-- If it seems as if your mailbox is overflowing with credit card offers, well, guess what?: It is. Market researcher Synovate says credit card companies have come out of hibernation and are pushing hard once again to woo customers. The company puts the total number of credit card solicitations worldwide at 2.73 billion -- nearly double the amount that flooded consumers in 2009. During the second quarter of 2010, U.S. households received 640.3 million card offers -- an 83% increase. Chase was the leading issuer, quadrupling its mailings versus the same period in the prior year.

-- David Lazarus

Photo: More and more people are turning to Netflix for their viewing pleasure. Credit: Paul Sakuma / Associated Press

Confidence in the economic recovery is rising.

And, a little at a time, so are rates on residential loans.

The latest report from mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac says lenders were offering 30-year fixed-rate home loans at an average 4.80% this week to borrowers with solid credit and 20% down payments or home equity. That compared with 4.74% last week.

The offering rate on a 15-year fixed loan averaged 4.09%, up from 4.05%, according to the report Thursday morning.

The rates were available to borrowers paying 0.7% of the loan amount in upfront lender charges. Borrowers can lower their rates by paying additional points. 

The start rates on one-year adjustable loans and variable mortgages with the first five years at a fixed rate rose as well, Freddie Mac said.

Rates on jumbo loans -- those for more than $729,750 in expensive areas of California -- were running half a percentage point higher this week, according to the rate-tracking site FreeRateUpdate.com.

Economists said the rates are following the yield on bonds higher as a result of reports suggesting a stronger economy -- and thus a greater chance of the Federal Reserve moving interest rates higher to check inflation.

The index of leading indicators rose 1% in December, the sixth consecutive monthly increase, according to the Conference Board, which also reported that consumer confidence in January had risen to an eight-month high. 

From Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft:

"Consumer demand in the housing market is also showing some positive gains. Sales of existing homes rose in December to the strongest pace since May and sales of new homes jumped to the highest since April. At their current sales rate, the expected time on the market fell from 9.5 to 8.1 months for existing houses and fell from 8.4 to 6.9 months for new homes."

Be that as it may, the battered housing markets clearly have their problems, including prices that are falling in most of the country -- the dreaded "double dip," as my colleague Alejandro Lazo reported here.

RELATED:

December new-home sales perk up

New foreclosures in California fall in fourth quarter

-- E. Scott Reckard

Photo: Freddie Mac headquarters. Credit: Bloomberg

Gold: Trading now at $1,335 per ounce, unchanged from Wednesday. Dow Jones industrial average: Trading now at 11,999.36, up 0.1% from Wednesday.

The more things change. As the financial crisis commission -- or some members of it -- present their report, a look at how little has changed in the world of too-big-to-fail banks.

Digging into Goldman. The crisis commission's report uncovers a number of unflattering details about Goldman Sachs, including the bank's incredible profit from derivatives during the crisis and the way it gained from the AIG bailout.

Banks play tough. With states and municipalities facing budgetary difficulties, the banks are playing hardball in refinancing talks.

--Nathaniel Popper in New York

Credit: Reuters/Peter Morgan.

General Motors Co. said Thursday that it won't seek $14.4 billion in direct loans from the U.S. Department of Energy to pay for retooling factories to make more fuel-efficient vehicles and auto components.

The loans were available to the Detroit automaker as part of $25-billion Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program approved by Congress in 2007.

GM officials said the move was part of the company's strategy of carrying "minimal" debt.

"This decision is based on our confidence in GM's overall progress and strong, global business performance," said Chris Liddell, GM vice chairman and chief financial officer.

"Our forgoing government loans will not slow our aggressive plans to bring more new vehicles and technologies to the market as quickly as we can," Liddell said. "We will continue to make the necessary investments to assert our industry leadership in technology and fuel economy."

The automaker successfully used a 2009 bankruptcy restructuring to shed factories, workers and debt and trim expenses to the point where it can make money even in an auto market that remains slow by historical standards.

GM has logged three consecutive profitable quarters -– including a $2-billion gain in the third quarter -- and is on track to have its first full-year profit since 2004. The company is expected to report its full 2010 financial results in the coming weeks.

In midday trading, GM shares rose 49 cents, or more than 1%, to $38.38

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Toyota announces another large recall

Trucks are hot; hybrids not

NFL calls a foul over Toyota advertisement

-- Jerry Hirsch
Twitter.com/LATimesJerry 

After 19 lengthy hearings and testimony from more than 700 witnesses, the federal commission charged with finding the causes of the financial crisis released its report Thursday.

But rather than resolving the issue, the work of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission simply showed how difficult it is to pinpoint the culprits.

Instead of a single bipartisan report identifying the causes, as the panel that investigated the 9/11 terrorist attacks produced, the 10-member congressionally appointed commission split into factions.

The six Democrats -- led by Chairman Phil Angelides, the former California state treasurer -- released  the official report in Washington on Thursday, concluding that the crisis was an avoidable event caused by Wall Street excesses and  U.S. regulatory failures.

The report said:

"The crisis was the result of human action and inaction, not of Mother Nature or computer models gone haywire. The captains of finance and the public stewards of our financial system ignored warnings and failed to question, understand, and manage evolving risks within a system essential to the well-being of the American public. Theirs was a big miss, not a stumble. While the business cycle cannot be repealed, a crisis of this magnitude need not have occurred. To paraphrase Shakespeare, the fault lies not in the stars, but in us."

None of the four Republicans on the panel signed on to that version.

Three of the Republicans, including the commission's vice chairman, former Bakersfield congressman Bill Thomas, released their own 29-page dissenting report on Thursday. And the fourth Republican, former Treasury official Peter Wallison, went his own way, filing a separate, 108-page solo dissent.

Wallison blamed government intervention in the housing market, largely through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, for triggering the crisis. He wrote in his conclusion:

"Although there were many contributing factors, the housing bubble of 1997–2007 would
not have reached its dizzying heights or lasted as long, nor would the financial crisis of
2008 have ensued, but for the role played by the housing policies of the U.S. government
over the course of two administrations."

Thomas and the other two Republicans -- former top George W. Bush economic aide Keith Hennessey and former Congressional Budget Office director Douglas Holtz-Eakin -- took what they said is a middle-of-the-road approach between Wallison, who follows the view of the crisis held by many conservatives, and the panel's Democrats, whose conclusions track with liberal views. They wrote:

"Not everything that went wrong during the financial crisis caused the crisis, and while some causes were essential, others had only a minor impact. Not every regulatory change related to housing or the financial system prior to the crisis was a cause. The majority's almost 550-page report is more an account of bad events than a focused explanation of what happened and why. When everything is important, nothing is."

-- Jim Puzzanghera

Photo: Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Chairman Phil Angelides and Vice Chairman Bill Thomas. Credit: Bloomberg