Doll Company To Pay Big After Losing Case Against T.I. and Tiny Harris

From left, singers Breaunna Womack, Bahja Rodriguez and Zonnique Pullins of OMG Girlz perform in Charlotte in July. (Jeff Hahne/Getty Images)

Hip-hop mogul T.I. and his wife Tameka “Tiny” Harris have just won a case that awarded them a big lump sum. Both artists were awarded $71 million after winning their third court trial over claims that toy company MGA Entertainment violated the intellectual property rights of their girls group OMG Girlz.

The maker of the popular L.O.L. Surprise dolls, must pay around $17.9 million in damages and $53.6 million in punitive damages after jurors in the Central District of California case ruled that a total of 15 dolls from the brand’s “O.M.G.” line did in fact infringe on the OMG Girlz’s colorful style. The verdict brought an end to a legal dispute that had three trials since MGA launched its L.O.L. Surprise O.M.G. line of dolls in 2019.

On Monday, Pullins and her fellow OMG Girlz members Bahja Rodriguez and Breaunna Womack all celebrated the verdict in posts to Instagram.

“This is for creatives everywhere. No longer will we be bullied into silence when it comes to others profiting off of our ideas and creativity,” Rodriguez wrote.

Tiny, who has been particularly outspoken about the case over the years, also applauded the decision on Monday. In 2020, MGA filed a lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgement stating that its “L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G.” products did not violate any IP rights belonging to OMG Girlz, after receiving a cease-and-desist from the group. But counterclaims were soon filed from OMG Girlz, and Tiny and T.I.'s team.

In a joint statement, attorneys on the other side of the case applauded OMG Girlz, Tiny, and T.I.'s determination and “courage to stand up for themselves and fight a billion-dollar corporation’s intimidation” — adding that the jury did the right thing by holding MGA “fully accountable.”