Rapper T.I. and his spouse, singer-songwriter Tameka ‘Tiny’ Harris, have been awarded a whopping $71 million by a jury of their lawsuit in opposition to MGA Entertainment, the toy conglomerate they alleged violated the mental property rights of their teen pop group the OMG Girlz with their widespread L.O.L. Shock! O.M.G. line of dolls.
Per the Daily Journal, which first reported the information, jurors bequeathed the couple $17.8 million in actual damages and $53.6 million in punitive damages on the finish of the three-week trial held in a federal court docket in Santa Ana, Calif.
As previously reported, that is the Grammy-winning duo’s third try and sue: The preliminary trial, held in January of final 12 months, led to a mistrial when jurors heard barred testimony accusing the corporate of cultural appropriation. The second time, some months later, resulted in an MGA Leisure victory; nonetheless, a June 2023 Supreme Court ruling allowed for the case to be retried, when it was deemed that client confusion a few product ought to carry extra weight than beforehand regarded in infringement circumstances.
The unanimous ruling discovered that of the seven dolls introduced (from a complete of 32), all copied the Atlanta-based group’s likeness and commerce costume. Although not all the remaining dolls had been discovered to have been constituting infringement, some had been discovered to have copied artists like Beyoncé and Girl Gaga.
Throughout the trial, T.I.’s (née Clifford Harris) lawyer, John Keville, mentioned the jury ought to penalize MGA an additional $35 to $72 million to “ship them a message,” per the Journal. Afterward, he thanked the eight jurors for “standing as much as MGA’s bullying and misrepresentations.” All through, he confirmed social media postings of shoppers who thought the dolls had been impressed by the all-female band.
T.I. and Tiny fashioned the OMG Girlz in 2009 with Tiny’s daughter Zonnique “Star” Pullins as a core member. Whereas the group has disbanded all through the years, its members — Pullins, Bahja “Magnificence” Rodriguez and Breaunna “Babydoll” Womack — reunited final 12 months, and are at the moment touring with a brand new single launched early final month. The trio attended the trial and testified, with T.I. and Tiny alleging the seven dolls copied the band’s look at particular public occasions.
