On Monday (Sept. 23), T.I. and his wife, Tameka "Tiny" Harris, secured a $71 million award in their legal battle against toy giant MGA Entertainment. The couple accused MGA of infringing on the intellectual property rights of their teen pop group, the OMG Girlz, with the toy company’s popular "L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G." line of dolls. The Atlanta-based pop group was founded in 2009 by Tiny.
After a three-week trial, the jury found that 13 of the 30 dolls at issue infringed on the trade dress and misappropriated the name, image, and likeness of the all-female band. The couple and their companies were awarded $17.9 million in real damages and a substantial $53.6 million in punitive damages.
Following the verdict, T.I. and Tiny spoke about the case and its outcome to Rolling Stone. “I mean, wow. They did more than I thought they would,” Tiny said. “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.”
T.I. spoke with the publication via FaceTime and said, "I think justice was served. I think it’s a testament to the relentlessness and resilience of my wife, daughter and nieces. 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.” He continued, “[This is a win for] the people who actually put hard work and effort into building and creating things from nothing.”
The Atlanta Hip Hop veteran added, “I think that was a bully tactic, trying to paint me as the bad guy when really, they were the [bad] ones. 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."
The outlet also reported that MGA denied the infringement allegations, claiming that their dolls were original designs and that the couple were “extortionists” engaged in a “money grab.”