Federal judge stops T.I. from winning $71 million in damages
T.I. won a $71million lawsuit against toy company MGA Entertainment in September after accusing them of breaching intellectual property rights. However, on January 6th, US District Judge James Selna made a preliminary ruling on the case, cutting their profits to $17million.
According to Selna, there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that MGA directly copied OMG Girlz designs. “Upon consideration of the evidence, the Court grants disgorgement of profits of $17,872,252 under common law misappropriation but does not award punitive damages,” the documents read. “Further, the Court declines to disgorge profits or enhance the award under the Lanham Act.
In their lawsuit, T.I and his wife, Tiny, alleged that a number of toys in the ‘LOL Surprise! OMG’ range by MGA replicated the image of their girl group, OMG Girlz, claiming they were based on appearances at public events.
T.I. took MGA to court in January 2023, but the case was thrown out after a testimony was barred that accused MGA of committing cultural appropriation. In May 2023, they returned to court and MGA was victorious, but a Supreme Court intervention allowed a retrial.
Following the initial decision, which saw the couple win $17.8m in real damages and $53.6m in punitive damages, T.I. told 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.”
He 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.”
Speaking to People, Tiny said, “We wanted to thank the jurors for just seeing us through this. And just believing in what we said. They heard our story and they knew we wasn’t lying. It’s amazing.” T.I. added, “I think it’s a testament to the relentless 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.”