T.I. and his wife Tameka “Tiny” Harris were awarded a whopping $71 million in a lawsuit against a toy company that was found to have violated their intellectual property.
The couple were awarded $17.9 million in real damages and $53.6 million in punitive damages during a jury verdict Monday, September 23, in a Santa Ana, California, courtroom, reports Rolling Stone.
T.I. and Tiny’s lawyers successfully argued that MGA Entertainment, the makers of the popular L.O.L. Surprise miniature dolls, infringed upon the likeness and trade dress of their girl group, OMG Girlz, and misappropriated the Atlanta band’s name for its O.M.G. line of toys.
T.I. and Tiny formed the OMG Girlz in 2009 as a star vehicle for their daughter, Zonnique “Star” Pullins, who is one-third of the band alongside Bahja “Beauty” Rodriguez and Breaunna “Babydoll” Womack.
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“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 Rolling Stone Monday after the verdict was delivered.
“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 “Live Your Life” rapper added.
Tiny, a member of the 1990s girl group Xscape, told the outlet: “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.”
The three-week trial marked the third time the couple tried to sue MGA. Their first attempt to take MGA to court in January 2023 ended in a mistrial. The couple lost their second trial in May 2023 but were granted a retrial in September 2023.
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The jury ruled Monday that seven of the L.O.L. Surprise O.M.G. dolls infringed the likeness and trade dress of the OMG Girlz. During the trial, T.I. called out MGA over what he described as “undeniably blatant” infringement. The couple’s lawyers argued that the seven dolls copied outfits the OMG Girlz wore for live performances and in photos.
“You can hold them up to these pictures and see. Anyone with eyes can see that this picture influenced this doll,” T.I. testified on September 6.
MGA’s billionaire founder Isaac Larian denied during testimony that the dolls’ designs were inspired by the OMG Girlz and called T.I., Tiny and the girl group “extortionists,” per Rolling Stone.
