T.I. and his wife Tameka ‘Tiny’ Harris have been awarded $71million in a lawsuit against MGA Entertainment over the company’s L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G. dolls.
The rapper – real name Clifford Joeseph Harris – and his singer-songwritter wife had claimed that the toy conglomerate had violated the intellectual property rights of their teen pop group OMG Girlz which was formed in 2009 by Tiny in Atlanta. The trio is comprised of Bahja “Beauty” Rodriguez, Breunna “BabyDoll” Womack and Zonnique “Star” Pullins. T.I. and Tiny claimed that all seven of MGA Entertainment’s O.M.G dolls copied the pop trio’s appearances at specific events.
According to the Daily Journal, jurors awarded the Grammy-Award-winning couple $17.8 million in real damages and $53.6million in punitive damages following a three-week trial which was held in a federal court in Santa Ana, California.
The Unanimous ruling sided with the couple and found that the seven dolls – taken from the collection of 32 dolls in total) – did copy the Atlanta trio’s likeliness and style. The trial marked the third time the couple had attempted to sue the conglomerate. According to Deadline, the first time they tried was back in January 2023 which ended in a mistrial after the jurors heard barred testimony accusing the company of cultural appropriation.
Bahja Rodriguez, Breaunna Womack and Zonnique Pullins of the OMG Girlz arrives at the 44th NAACP Image Awards held at The Shrine Auditorium on February 1, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jason Kempin/WireImage)
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The second trial saw MGA Entertainment win but in June 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that the case would be able to be retried after it was deemed thatconsumer confusion about a product should carry more weight than previously regarded in infringement cases.
According to the Daily Journal, during the trial, John Kenville, T.I.’s lawyer, said the jury should penalize the conglomerate an extra $35 to $72 million as a way to “send them a message”. He then thanked the jurors for “standing up to MGA’s bullying and misrepresentations.”
Speaking to Rolling Stone after their $71million win, Tiny shared: “I mean, wow. They did more than I thought they would. I would have been happy with whatever. They blessed us more than beyond. We wanted to thank the jurors so bad, but we didn’t get the opportunity.”
“I think justice was served. I think it’s a testament to the relentlessness and resilience of my wife, daughter and nieces,” T.I. told the publication. “We’re just happy we were able to come out on top and fight for creatives and our intellectual property that large corporations seem to think is just public domain and free for all to come and grab and use.”
The rapper went on to call the verdict a win for “the people who actually put hard work and effort into building and creating things from nothing.”
In other news, the OMG Girlz recently reunited last year and released a single titled ‘Motion’ back in August.
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