T.I., Tiny, and OMG Girlz awarded massive $71 million jury verdict in infringement case

The toymaker MGA Entertainment Inc. was found to have used the girl-group members' likenesses without their permission.

A federal jury has awarded a massive judgement of $71 million to the rapper Clifford "T.I." Harris Jr., his wife Tameka "Tiny" Harris, and members of teen-pop group OMG Girlz.

The suit claimed that toy manufacturer MGA Entertainment Inc. used the OMG Girlz's likenesses without permission for a line of dolls called L.O.L. Surprise! OMG Dolls, first released in 2019. The dolls have since become wildly popular, and at the culmination of a three-week case on Sept. 23, a federal jury threw out MGA's First Amendment claims and awarded OMG Girlz $17.9 million in real damages and $53.6 million in punitive damages.

Harris commented on the verdict while leaving the courtroom with members of the OMG Girlz in a video posted to her Instagram on Sept. 23. "We are seeing what we've been fighting for through the last three trials," she said. "They came back with the best answer possible, and they gave us what it felt like we deserve. We couldn't be more happy, or thankful."

Harris continued that she sees this verdict as "a stepping stone for the culture, for the creators. They'll know that they have the opportunity to do the same, and they can win."

Entertainment Weekly has reached out to MGA Entertainment Inc. for comment.

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The trademark case was first brought in 2023, and included a cultural appropriation argument, alleging that the Black female entertainers' likenesses had been used to inspire a line of largely white dolls — without the entertainers being cut into the profit. Judge James V. Selma forbid mention of that argument and subsequently declared a mistrial when it was nevertheless raised in court.

A second trial that followed ended in a verdict for MGA, but T.I. and Tiny were granted a retrial after a June 2023 Supreme Court ruling which declared the First Amendment didn't protect a dog-toy company selling products shaped like bottles of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey.

After the case was brought back to court a third time, jurors eventually found that 13 dolls among the line's 30 in total infringed on the trade dress of the OMG Girlz, as well as misappropriated their name, images, and likenesses. Two additional dolls were also found to have violated the group's trade dress and committed several misappropriations.

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Harris, a member of the band Xscape, formed the OMG Girlz in 2009. The group consists of Harris's daughter, Zonnique “Star” Pullins, as well as Bahja "Beauty" Rodriguez and Breaunna "Babydoll" Womack. They first performed on a 2010 episode of the BET reality series Tiny and Toya, and most recently opened for SWV and Xscape on their "Queens of R&B Tour."

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Harris and T.I., meanwhile, face legal troubles of their own, having been accused of sexual assault in a January lawsuit. T.I. was also wrongfully arrested, and subsequently released, in August due to a case of mistaken identity.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.