T.I. and Tiny awarded $71million in lawsuit against toy company
Rapper T.I. and his wife, Tameka ‘Tiny’ Harris, have been victorious in a $71 million lawsuit against MGA Entertainment, who they accused of breaching their intellectual property rights.
The legal battles have been ongoing for several years, but on September 23rd, Harris took to Instagram Live to reveal they’d finally settled the score with MGA Entertainment. The recent court appearance marked the third time that the couple had attempted to sue the toy manufacturers.
The musical duo alleged in their lawsuit that seven toys in the ‘LOL Surprise! OMG’ range by MGA Entertainment replicated the image of Harris and T.I.’s girl-group, the OMG Girlz, which they said were based on appearances made by the band at public events.
Harris first took MGA Entertainment to court in January, 2023, however, the case was thrown out after a testimony was barred that accused MGA of committing cultural appropriation. They returned to court in May, 2023, and MGA was victorious, but a Supreme Court intervention allowed a retrial to take place.
Although T.I. and Harris weren’t member of the OMG Girlz, they formed the group in 2009 which features Harris’ daughter, Zonnique Pullins. The line-up also consits of Bahja Rodriguez and Breaunna Womack. The OMG Girlz reunited in 2023 after disbanding in 2018, and are currently on tour across North America. All three members appeared during the three-week trial to testify.
Harris said in a video message following the judge’s decision to award the couple $17.8m in real damages and $53.6m in punitive damages: “We did this for the city. We did this for the culture.” She added: “It was a fight. It was a hell of a fight. We couldn’t be more happy.”
Meanwhile, T.I. has also fired back at legal representatives of MGA accusing the couple of chasing money, stating to Rolling Stone, “(They were) 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 rapper continued: “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.”
Despite the judge’s decision, MGA Entertainment continue to deny any wrongdoing and refute claims they used the likeness of the OMG Girlz for their range of toys.