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Rapper TI and his wife, singer-songwriter Tameka “Tiny” Harris, have been awarded $71m (£51m) by a jury in their lawsuit against a toy company they accused of violating their intellectual property rights.
On Monday (23 September), Tiny, 49, shared an Instagram Live in which she expressed her joy over an end to the years-long court battle against MGA Entertainment.
“We did this for the city. We did this for the culture,” Tiny said in a clip filmed outside a Santa Ana, California, federal courthouse.
She continued: “It was a fight. It was a hell of a fight. We couldn’t be more happy.”
In the complaint, which marked their third attempt to sue, the Grammy-winning duo alleged that seven of MGA Entertainment’s toys in their popular line, the LOL Surprise! OMG dolls, copied the appearance of their teen pop group, the OMG Girlz, during specific public events.
The initial trial took place in January last year but ended in a mistrial after jurors heard barred testimony that accused MGA of cultural appropriation.
The second, which took place in May 2023, resulted in an MGA Entertainment victory; a Supreme Court ruling in June that year allowed for a retrial.
TI and Tiny formed the OMG Girlz in 2009, with Tiny’s daughter Zonnique “Star” Pullins as a core member. While the trio initially disbanded, members Pullins, Bahja “Beauty” Rodriguez and Breaunna “Babydoll” Womack reunited last year and are currently on tour in support of new music.
All three bandmates testified during the three-week trial.
Deadline reports that the unanimous ruling found that of the seven dolls presented from a total of 32, all of them copied the Atlanta-based band’s likeness.
During the trial, TI’s lawyer argued that the jury should penalise MGA an additional $35m to $72m.
Jurors bequeathed the couple $17.8m (£13.3m) in real damages and $53.6m (£40.1m) in punitive damages at the end of the trial.
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Speaking to Rolling Stone,TI hit back at MGA’s lawyers for calling the lawsuit a “money grab”.
“[They were] trying to paint me as the bad guy when really, they were the [bad] ones,” he said. “They were the ones that came and ripped us off, and [they] expected us to not have the audacity to stand up and speak for ourselves.
“That kind of condescension comes from when you’re not really in touch with the reality of culture after you’ve gone so long kind of having it your way and nobody really standing up and speaking against you.”
MGA founder Isaac Larian, who denied the allegations of copyright infringement, insisted that the OMG Girlz did not influence the company’s line of dolls, and referred to TI and Tiny as “extortionists” during the trial, People reports.
The Independent has contacted MGA Entertainment for comment.
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